The Next Generation Reads Sorcerer's Stone
by Read-a-holic2200
Summary: I know there have been a lot of these, but I just wanted to write one.  Rated T for slight language  Chapter 4 will be up, hopefully, before the 15th.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Prologue

It was early Sunday morning, and the whole Weasley and Potter families, plus Teddy were staying at the Burrow. Suddenly, in the Potters' room, a package appeared with a loud _POP_. Lily started screaming at the top of her lungs. A minute later, Ron came in with a quill, waving it like a wand, yelling, "_Stupefy_! _Stupefy!" _A moment later, Hermione came in and put her hand on her husband's shoulder, saying, "Um, Ron, that's a quill, not a wand."

"Oh," Ron said, looking around, "Harry, if nothing's wrong, then why the bloody hell was Lily screaming?"

"Ron, don't swear in front of the children," Hermione mumbled,

"Hermione, they'll learn it eventually, let's just let them learn it at a young age," Ron mumbled back. Then an awkward silence followed.

"Hey, what's that?" James said, pointing towards the package, breaking the silence.

"I don't know, let's check it out," Ginny said, walking toward the package and opening it. "Hey, it's just a bunch of books."

"What is going on?" Rose said, entering with Hugo. "I need my beauty sleep."

"Oh, stop being a priss, Rosie," Hugo said.

"I thought I told you to never call me that," Rose said. "It's ROSE, not ROSIE!"

"So, Mum, what did you say before we were so rudely interrupted by our prissy cousin, Rosie, and our annoying cousin, Hugo," James said, receiving death glares from both Rose and Hugo.

"I said that in the package are books," Ginny said. All the adults looked at Hermione.

"What? I didn't put that there," Hermione said. Harry gasped in mock horror.

"You didn't? Wow, it's the first time!" Harry said, receiving a death glare from Hermione, similar to her children's.

"So, what are they called?" Albus asked.

"_Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, _and _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_," Ginny said, laying them down on the bed as she said the titles.

"Harry, I think that they're all about you," Hermione said.

"No," Harry said, sarcastically, "it's not like they have my name on every book and the names of our adventures at school on them."

"Should we read them now, or read it with the rest of the family in the morning?" Lily asked.

"With the rest of the family," everyone else said.

"Now that that's settled, we should get back to bed," Harry said, looking at Lily and Hugo, already half-asleep. "See you in the morning," Harry said, putting the covers over Lily, while Hermione picked up Hugo, while Ron held Rose's hand and went into their room.

The Next Morning

Later, when everyone was at breakfast, Harry decided to break the news.

"Last night, a package appeared in our bedroom. Ron, Hermione, Rose, and Hugo know about it, too. Earlier, before the children were awake, Ginny and I decided that the children should know about our past, so we are going to read it, together, as a family."

"Okay," Fleur said, "so when weel we start reading ze book?"

"We could start after lunch," Molly said, "Does everyone agree?" Everyone agreed.

"So we will start after lunch in the living room," Percy said.

"Percy," George said, "we just said that. You don't need to say it again." There was laughter all around the table.

"Well, I was just confirming—" Percy started.

"Blah, blah, blah, blah." George interjected. Then a fight started between the two boys. It didn't end until Molly yelled, "Boys! Stop!" "Sorry Mum," they both said.

**A/N: Did you like it? Did you hate it? Please review telling me what you think or if you have any ideas.**

**Next chapter will probably be up later today.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Boy Who Lived

**A/N: Yay! Chapter 2 is up!**

**P.S. Also in this story, there are 2 Mollys. 1****st**** is the grandmother of the next generation. The other is Percy's child. The Molly that decided when to read the story, is the grandmother. Just so there was no confusion.**

**P.P.S. All the grandchildren in this story are real, but I don't know the ages, so I made them up. I looked them up on J.K. Rowling's website.**

**I forgot to do the disclaimer in the last chapter, so here I go: **

**I do not own Harry Potter, or anything you may recognize in this story.**

Chapter 2: The Boy Who Lived

After lunch, everyone met in the living room; Molly and Arthur on the most comfortable chairs, the adults on the sofa and other chairs, and all the children on the floor.

"So now that we've finished our lunch, we will read the first book to teach the children a little, or a lot, of their parents' past," Arthur said, looking at the children, who were all staring at him with wide eyes.

"Who will read first?" Harry asked.

"I will," Molly said.

"**Chapter 1**," Molly started. "**The Boy Who Lived**."

"So this is where the nickname that Harry LOVES begins," George said.

"George!" Angelina, George's wife, said, hitting him on the arm.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"Why would you thank someone for being normal?" Charlie asked. George looked at Percy, who said, "I am not normal, and even if I was, I wouldn't want anyone to thank me."

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"What is their definition of nonsense? Because I have a feeling it's different from ours," Fred, George's son, said.

"Anything to do with magic or wizards." Harry said.

"So Cousin Dudley doesn't like magic! Then why does he sometimes let us come over?" Lily asked.

"At first, Dudley and his parents hated magic, but now Dudley doesn't exactly 'hate' magic," Harry said.

"Why?" Lily asked.

"Later," Harry said. "Continue, Molly."

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings,**

A few chuckles at that.

**which made drills.**

"What are drills?" Ron asked. Arthur started to open his mouth, but Hermione said, "Ronald, honestly, we have one in our house."

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blond and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys has a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

All the adults burst out laughing at that. About 5 minutes later, when everyone stopped laughing, Molly continued.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"There's nothing wrong with the Potters!" everyone yelled.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they haven't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister,**

"Why would she do that?" Victoire, Bill's oldest child, asked. "I love my sister," she said, putting an arm around her younger sister, Domonique.

**because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish**

"That's not a word," Rose said.

"Rose, you really do act a lot like your mother," Ron said.

"How?" Rose asked.

"You're a smart aleck like her," he said, getting both very similar death glares from his wife and daughter. "Oh, there's the death glare, too."

**as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to thick what neighbors would think if the Potters arrived in the street.**

"How about, 'Oh, they're so cool and awesome,'" Molly, Percy's oldest child, said. Everyone laughed, and George said, "Mols, I have _no_ idea where you get your sense of humor from. It's certainly not you parents."

**The Dursleys know that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"But you eventually did, didn't you, Dursleys?" Harry said.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday, our story starts,**

"No, it started with 'Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive,' etc," Fred said.

"Good one, son," George said, high-fiving his son, while the others laughed.

**there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,**

"A boring tie for a boring person," Louis, **(A/N: It is pronounced like Louis Vuitton, the designer.) **Bill's youngest child, said.

**and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"And there's the first sign of magic," Angelina said.

"But they really should have been more careful," Hermione said.

"Well, we didn't have much to celebrate for eleven years," Molly said.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house.**

Harry, Ron, and George burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Albus asked.

"You can call Dudley a lot of things," Harry said, "but he's not little."

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of something peculiar—a cat reading a map.**

"Cats can't read maps," Rose said.

"Rose, you'd be a great magical lawyer, just like me," Hermione said.

"No way! I'm not working with my mom!" Rose said.

"Don't worry, it's probably not even a real cat."

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he has seen—then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light.**

"Is that what Muggles think of magic?" Lucy, Percy's youngest child, asked. "A trick of the light?"

"Only this Muggle, Lucy," Harry said.

**Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back.**

Everyone who had Professor McGonagall in their third year laughed.

"I hope she has her famous stare even as a cat," Ron said.

**As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive—no, **_**looking**_** at the sign; cats can't read maps or signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangley dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"Really guys," Teddy said, "wearing cloaks in the Muggle world."

"Well, in our defense, we thought Voldemort was gone," Arthur said.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes—the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.**

"It definitely isn't new, Dursley," James said. "It's been around since the first wizard."

**He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt—these people were obviously collecting for something . . . yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings **

More chuckles also there, too.

**parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He **_**didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them hadn't even seen an owl at nighttime. He yelled at five different people. He made several important phone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"Wow, this man really likes screaming," Roxanne, Fred's twin, said.

"Roxy, you should've seen how many times he screamed at me," Harry said.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed.**

"You shouldn't do that," Domonique, Bill's middle child, said. "Or else they'll turn you into a toad or something."

**He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy.**

"Probably because they were thinking about what spell to use on him," Domonique said.

**This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard—"**

"—**yes, their son, Harry—"**

"Why would you talk about our world in the Muggle world? It's dangerous," Hugo said.

"Well, _we_ certainly didn't do that," Arthur said.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking . . . no, he was being stupid.**

"Well, that's a first," Bill said sarcastically.

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was**_** called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"Dad, I'm glad you weren't named that," Albus said.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because Harvey Potter, the Savior of the Wizarding World doesn't have a nice ring to it. Neither does Harold Potter."

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her—if **_**he'd**_** had a sister like that . . . but all the same, those people in cloaks . . .**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building a five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing can upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"Oh my God," Teddy said. "Saying stuff like that to Muggles?"

"I bet that was Dedalus Diggle," Harry said. "He can't keep stuff in for very long."

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood—was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

"That's not going to work," Hermione said.

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. HE was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley learned a new word ("Won't!"). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to watch the last report on the evening news:**

"**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have been reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.**

"Maybe he's a wizard, a Squib, or someone that knows a wizard," Lily said.

"Maybe, Lily," Ginny said.

"**Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"**Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early—it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters . . . **

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er—Petunia, dear—you haven't heard from you sister lately, have you?"**

"If I were Petunia, I would've thought that that was a _great_ thing to start off a conversation with," Hermione said.

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls . . . shooting stars . . . and there where a lot of funny-looking people in town today . . ."**

"_**So?**_**" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought . . . maybe . . . it was something to do with . . . you know . . . **_**her **_**crowd."**

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casual as he could, "Their son—he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

"**Isn't his name Howard?"**

"Yeah, that doesn't sound good either," James said.

"**Harry. Nasty common name."**

"**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horrible. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there.**

"Of course it is," Ginny said. "It's obviously McGonagall."

**It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did . . . if it got out that they were related to a pair of—well, he didn't want to think about it.**

**The Dursleys got in bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought was that even if the Potters **_**were**_** involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley.**

"You were very wrong, Dursley," Harry said.

**The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about then and their kind. . . . He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on—he yawned and turned over—it couldn't affect **_**them**_**. . . .**

**How very wrong he was.**

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an easy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleeping. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of the street. It didn't quiver when a door slammed on the next street, or when two owls swooped overhead. It was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner of the street. He appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his long hair and beard, which could both tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind his half-moon spectacles and his nose looked as if it had been broken at least twice.**

"It actually _has_ been broken twice," Ron said.

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Isn't that the man I was named after?" Albus asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "The reason we named you after him was because he was my role model and a very wise person."

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize that he was being watched, because he looked at the cat, which was staring at him. For some reason, he seemed to find the sight of the cat amusing, because he chuckled and said, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter.**

"Dumbledore smokes?" Hugo asked, shocked.

"No, Hugo," Ron said. "It's a Deluminator. I have it right here," he said, pulling it out of his pocket, and clicking it. All the lights it went out. Then he clicked it again. The lights came on again.

"Wow, that's so cool, Dad," Hugo said.

"Yep, and this is the exact same one Dumbledore used."

"That's even cooler."

**He flicked it open, held it up, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again—the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer until the only lights on the whole street were the pinpricks of the cat's eyes. Even if Mrs. Dursley looked out the window, she wouldn't be able to see anything happening outside. Dumbledore put the Put-Outer back in his cloak and set down the street toward number four, where he sat down next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment, he spoke to it.**

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"I knew it," Hermione said.

**He turned to smile at the cat, but it was gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing glasses the same shape as the markings around the cat's eyes. She was also wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"**How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"**All day? When you could've been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no—even the Muggles have noticed. It was on their news." She jerked her head toward the Dursleys' living room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls . . . shooting stars . . . Well, they're not completely stupid.**

"See, McGonagall agrees with me," Hermione said.

**They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent—I bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads.****People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something,**

"She just wants to see if the rumors are true," Teddy said.

**but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"Really, Dumbledore," the young Molly said. "A lemon drop at this time?'

"**A what?"**

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone —"**

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." **

"Yeah, I also tried to do that for 7 years at school," Harry said.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

"**I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"Not really," Ron said. "They both did amazing, complicated spells that even Hermione couldn't have mastered."

"**Only because you're too — well —noble to use them."**

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

"You, Dad, right?" Lily asked.

"Yes, and think about a one-year-old defeating the second greatest wizard of that time," Harry said.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"**What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — dead."**

Everyone looked down. Lily stifled a sniff.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's — it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"But I bet you _do_ know, Uncle Harry?" Lucy asked.

"Yes," Harry said, "But I bet in the book, they say why."

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late.**

"Oh, so this is where we meet Hagrid?" Rose asked.

"Yes, I think so," her mother said.

**I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"**You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.**

"Thank you, Professor for siding with me," Harry said. "I would rather have lived with a wizard family than with them."

**"Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"That's all they give him," Roxanne said, in horror. "Just a bloody letter?"

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future — **

"I'm really glad that that didn't happen," Ron said. "More attention to him."

**there will be books written about Harry —**

"Including these," Audrey, Percy's wife, said.

**every child in our world will know his name!"**

**"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"**Hagrid's bringing him."**

"**You think it —wise — to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"How could you doubt Hagrid, McGonagall?" Angelina said.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Sirius's bike," Arthur said. "I remember fixing that," he said, then, catching the look on his wife's face, said, "Um, never mind, continue."

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild — long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"Dad!" Al said.

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"**No problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Everyone looked at Harry's forehead. He looked uncomfortable.

"Just stop!" he yelled.

"**Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss.**

**Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —"**

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. **

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe that they just left you there, Uncle Harry," Louis said.

**He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley…**

"Ah, those were the days," Harry said, "even though I can't remember them."

**He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

"There's the end of the chapter," Molly said. "Arthur, do you want to read next?"

"Sure," Arthur said.

**A/N: Well, there's the second chapter. Hopefully, the third chapter will be up in, at most, a week. **

**Did you like it, did you think hate it? I can't know if you don't review. Review telling me ideas for future chapters or just your comments!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Read-a-holic2200**


	3. Chapter 3: The Vanishing Glass

**A/N: Yay! Chapter 3 is up!**

**From the days of the 16****th**** to the 22****nd****, I will be in Destin (yay!) but we won't bring our laptop, so I can't update, so I'll do as many chapters as I can until we leave for Destin. Also, who is going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, on the day it comes out? I am, but I'm not seeing the midnight one, my dad won't let me. :( **

**Disclaimer: **

**I do not own Harry Potter, or anything you may recognize in this story.**

Chapter 3: The Vanishing Glass

"Who will read next?" Molly asked.

"I will," Arthur said, grabbing the book. "**Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass**."

"Harry, did you do accidentwal magic and get in twobel wit your auntie and uncwle?" George said. Harry just scowled.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens**

"Who would want to have a tidy garden?" Molly asked, looking out her living room garden, into her messy front lawn, some gnomes wobbling around.

"ME!" all the wives said.

**and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets- but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby,**

"Dad, I need you to get one of those pictures of Cousin Dudley in those bonnets, so I can put it in my room, and laugh myself to sleep," Albus said.

**and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.**

"Dad, don't you ever take a picture of Mum doing that to me," Louis said to his father, Bill.

"Don't worry Louis, he won't, because Grandma Weasley took a bunch of pictures of him and Mum together like that," Charlie said.

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. **

"**Up! Get up! Now!" **

"Wow, that's the _best _thing to hear first thing in the morning," Ron said. "The _lovely _sound of your aunt screeching at you."

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. **

"**Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"Dad, that was real, not a dream," Lily said.

**His aunt was back outside the door. **

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded. **

"**Nearly," said Harry. **

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." **

**Harry groaned. **

"I'm guessing you don't like your cousin's birthday," Molly (the grandchild) said.

"No, never in my entire life," Harry said.

'**What did you say?' his aunt snapped through the door.**

'**Nothing, nothing…'**

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten?**

"It's easy," Teddy said. "You just don't pay attention to him for the rest of the year, and then on his birthday act surprised that it's his birthday."

**Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider**

"Really, Uncle Harry, I _hate_ spiders," Rose said, shuddering.

"Rose, I had no idea that you hated spiders," Arthur said. "You take after your father."

**off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

All the girls, minus Hermione, Ginny, and Molly (the grandmother), yelled, "WHAT?"

"Yeah, it's true," Harry said, "they didn't want me to hog up space, so they put me in the cupboard."

"That's just cruel and unusual punishment," Roxanne said.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

"Is he a spoiled brat or what?" Audrey, Percy's wife, said.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

"Please tell me that wasn't you, Harry," Hermione said.

"Um. . ." was all that Harry said.

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry,**

"Yeah, it was me," Harry said, looking downcast.

**but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast**. **Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"Dad, I can't imagine you being small and skinny," James said.

"I have pictures," Harry said. "Do you want to see them?"

"No, not know," James said.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair,** **and bright green eyes. **

"I look almost exactly like my dad, except for my eyes, I have my mother's eyes," Harry said. "You don't know how many times I've heard that."

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"You liked your scar?" George said.

"Well, it was the only thing that I liked about my appearance then," Harry said.

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it. **

'**In the car crash when your parents died,' she had said.**

"WHAT!" Arthur yelled. "A car crash kill Lily and James Potter! Not possible!"

'**And don't ask questions.' **

_**Don't ask questions**_** — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.** **Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. **

'**Comb your hair!' he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.**

"Just like your father," Ginny said.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

"Good—one—Harry," Bill said, between laughs.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. **

'**Thirty-six,' he said, looking up at his mother and father. 'That's two less than last year.'**

'**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy.' **

'**All right, thirty-seven then,' said Dudley, going red in the face.**

"Again, a spoiled kid," Audrey said.

**Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"Good thinking, Dad," Albus said.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, 'And we'll buy you another **_**two**_** presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? **_**Two**_** more presents. Is that all right?'**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, 'So I'll have thirty… thirty…'**

"Oh my God, he can't even count!" Hugo said. "How did he even pass the first grade?"

"Trust me, Hugo, he barely passed," Harry said.

'**Thirty-nine, sweetums,' said Aunt Petunia.**

'**Oh.' Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. 'All right then.'**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. **

'**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!' He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. **

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. **

'**Bad news, Vernon,' she said. 'Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him.'**

"Is that Arabella Figg, the Squib?" Molly asked Harry.

"Yeah, do you know her?" Harry said.

"I knew her parents," Molly said. "Her parents and my parents were best friends, they always came over. Even though Arabella older than me, we would always hang out."

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

'**Now what?' said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

'**We could phone Marge,' Uncle Vernon suggested. **

'**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.'**

"That's _so _true," Harry said.

"Harry, isn't that the aunt that you blew up?" George asked.

"Yeah."

"Nice," was all George said.

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. **

'**What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?' **

'**On vacation in Majorca,' snapped Aunt Petunia. **

'**You could just leave me here,' Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. **

'**And come back and find the house in ruins?' she snarled. **

'**I won't blow up the house,' said Harry,**

"Yeah, right, Uncle Harry," Fred said. "I bet you would've done accidental magic and done exactly that."

**but they weren't listening.**

'**I suppose we could take him to the zoo,' said Aunt Petunia slowly, '… and leave him in the car…'**

'**That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…'**

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"Really, he would go that low," Victoire said. "Fake crying?" she said, now with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Don't you dare try that with me, young lady," Fleur said.

'**Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!' she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

'**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!' Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. 'He always sp-spoils everything!' He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. **

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them.**

"What the hell is wrong with these kids?" Ginny said, shocked.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley," Molly said. "Don't you dare curse under my roof."

"Ron cursed this morning," Ginny said, covering up.

"I'll deal with you later," Molly said to Ron. Ron shrunk down.

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. **

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

'**I'm warning you,' he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's,**

**'I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas.' **

'**I'm not going to do anything,' said Harry, 'honestly…' **

"Yeahhhhh," George said. "I bet you did do something, Harry."

"Maybe," Harry said.

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.** **The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left 'to hide that horrible scar.' Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.**

"Nice, Harry," George said.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he **_**couldn't**_** explain how it had grown back so quickly. **

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

"Ick," Angelina said, disgusted. "This woman has absolutely _no_ sense of fashion sense."

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. **

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. **

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

"Harry, did you Apparate?" Arthur asked.

"I don't know," Harry said.

"Well, that's very rare," Arthur said.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

"I think he likes to complain about Harry," Roxanne said.

"No, we couldn't tell," Fred said, sarcastically.

'… **roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums,' he said, as a motorcycle overtook them. **

'**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. 'It was flying.'**

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: 'MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!' **

**Dudley and Piers sniggered. **

'**I know they don't,' said Harry. 'It was only a dream.'**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"Dad, can we watch cartoons?" Fred and Roxanne asked at the same time.

George was about to say, "Sure," when Molly (the grandmother) said, "Ooohh no, you and your brother were already a handful, we don't want those twins to be worse than you."

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

"Nice, Harry," Charlie said. "It probably did."

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him.**

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. **

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.** **After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can —**

"I wish it would've," Molly said. "This family is starting to get on my nerves." All of the Weasley children moved away from them, knowing what happens when someone gets on her nerves. For example, Bellatrix Lestrange.

**but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. **

'**Make it move,' he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. **

'**Do it again,' Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. **

'**This is boring,' Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. **

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

"Now I'm feeling bad for the snake," Lucy said, "and I hate snakes."

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. **

_**It winked**_**.**

"WHAT?" everyone, but Harry yelled.

"Yeah, it winked," Harry said. "It'll say why soon."

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. **

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: **

'_**I get that all the time.**_**' **

'**I know,' Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. 'It must be really annoying.' **

**The snake nodded vigorously. **

'**Where do you come from, anyway?' Harry asked. **

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. **

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil. **

'**Was it nice there?' **

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. 'Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?**

"Great, I'm really feeling bad for the snake," Lucy said, continuing.

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. 'DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!' **

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. **

"That must have been funny," Teddy said.

**Out of the way, you,' he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. **

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

"Oh, so that's the accidental magic," Domonique said. "I bet your uncle almost killed you."

"He would've if he could've," Harry said.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. **

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, '**_**Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo**_**.'**

"Oh my gosh, did you speak to snakes before, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"No, I didn't know that I could speak Parseltongue then, Hermione," Harry said.

"YOU CAN SPEAK PARSELTONGUE?" all the kids yelled.

"Uh, yeah," Harry, said, leaning slightly back.

"And you didn't even tell us?" Harry's children yelled.

"Sorry?" he said, not knowing what to say.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. **

'**But the glass,' he kept saying, 'where did the glass go?' **

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.**

"We can only wish," Bill said.

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, 'Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?'**

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, 'Go — cupboard — stay — no meals,' before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"But you'd starve!" Ginny yelled.

"I was used to it," Harry said.

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.**

"What was the green light?" Lily asked.

"The Killing Curse," Harry said.

"That was the one that gave you the scar?" Lily asked, pointing to her father's scar.

"No," Fred said, sarcastically. "It was the Scar Curse. You know, the spell that goes, _Scarius Lightningus._" Lily just rolled her eyes, similar to her mother's.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. **

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. **

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"They should have been more careful, even Harry was starting to notice," Hermione said.

"Hermione, stop worrying, he was fine," Ron said.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Arthur said. "Bill, you can read next," he said, handing the book to his eldest son.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Hopefully Chapter 4 will be up before July 15****th****. **

**Also, reviews are recommended.**

**You can tell me your favorite part, your ideas, or just your comments.**

**Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Letters from No One

**A/N: Here's Chapter 4! Sorry for the lateness, I was on vacation.**

**Also, here's the age difference for the children:**

**Teddy: 19**

**Victoire: 17**

**Domonique, Molly (grandchild), Fred, and Roxanne: 12**

**Louis, Lucy, and James: 10**

**Rose and Albus: 9**

**Hugo and Lily: 7 (Can most people read full novels at 7? If not, let's just pretend they can.)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: The Letters from No One<p>

"Dad, can I read next?" Bill asked.

"Sure," Arthur said, handing his oldest son the book.

"**Chapter 3**," Bill said. "**The Letters from No One**."

"Harry? Did you get your Hogwarts letter?" Teddy asked.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"Then why are they devoting a whole chapter to it?"

"Well, there's a picture above the chapter. It's a picture of a bunch of letters coming out of the fireplace," Bill said.

"Well, Hogwarts are very persistent," Percy said.

George gave a fake gasp. "Percy? Badmouthing Hogwarts? Who are you and what have you done with the real Percy?" Percy scowled and rolled his eyes at him.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started**

"Dad, how many weeks was that?" Lily asked.

"Oh, don't worry, it was only one. That wasn't too bad. Once, they locked me in there for three weeks."

All the girls gasped.

"Oh, don't worry. They gave me some food every two days."

"And what was that?" Ginny asked, giving her husband a stern look.

"Cheese and crackers. It was enough to last for two days."

**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

Molly (**A/N: Now, for the grandchild Molly, I'm just gonna put "Molly II") **gasped, and said, "Oh, if I ever find him, I'm gonna kill him for hurting my friend in her time of pain!"

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

"Hey! They stole that from Voldemort! He started that!" Fred said. "Maybe we can continue it? How 'bout that, Roxy?" Fred asked his twin.

"NO!" Roxanne yelled. "I am NOT going to hunt Uncle Harry!"

"Okay, I'll just hunt him by myself," Fred said.

"I will put a Tracking Charm onto you," his mother said, "so I will always know where you are, and you won't hurt poor Uncle Harry. He already had enough on his plate during his time at Hogwarts."

"Fine! I won't hunt him!"

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school.**

"No, you won't. You'll be going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the finest school of the magical arts in the world. You just wait," Albus said.

**Dudley thought this was very funny.**

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?" **

"WHAT!" all the girls yelled, causing some of the boys to cover their ears.

"How could he do that to you?" Lily asked.

"He never actually did that. I always got away from him," Harry said.

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"Harry, that was a good one," George said. "And also, he is _that_ stupid?"

"Yep," Harry said. "He barely ever understood what I said right when I said it, so I could get away."

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters.**

"Okay," Angelina said. "Smeltings also doesn't have a sense of fashion. I mean, _really, _maroon tailcoats with _orange_ knickerbockers. That doesn't even match!"

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"WHAT WOULD THAT BE TRAINING FOR? SELF DEFENSE? I DON'T THINK SO!" Molly said. Every person scooted at least a little bit away from Molly.

"I think she should go away for the later part of the book and for the rest of the series," Ron mumbled to Hermione and Harry. They both nodded their heads vigorously.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Duddykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up.** **Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

Everyone burst out laughing at that.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

"What the h—" George began, but his mother gave him a look that said, "_Curse under my roof, and I will kick you out of this house."_

"Heck," George finished, "is that?"

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question. **

**"Your new school uniform," she said.**

"That's your school uniform?" Bill asked. "Dirty, grey rags!"

"Yeah, I guess," Harry said.

**Harry looked in the bowl again. "Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

Nobody laughed. "That was _not _one of your better jokes, Uncle Harry," Fred said.

"It should've been, 'Is that my uniform, or did you just shave an elephant,'" Roxanne said. Everyone laughed at that.

"I was actually thinking of saying that, but she would've punished me. No food for two whole months, I'm guessing," Harry said.

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"It's a good thing that Hogwarts sent you your letter, or you would've been the laughing stock of the entire school," Charlie said.

"Actually when I got my letter, I was thanking God, and Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall, that I was going to Hogwarts," Harry said.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table. They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat. **

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper. **

"Good, you're making him do something," Molly II said.

"That useless lump is actually good for something," her namesake said.

**"Make Harry get it." **

**"Get the mail, Harry." **

"Now that's not fair," both Mollys said.

**"Make Dudley get it."**

"YEAH! YOU TELL HIM!" Lucy said.

"Lucy, despite your quiet parents, you are very loud. Where did you get it from?" Ron said, putting his fingers in his ears. Lucy just shrugged.

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

"Oh no, you won't," Ginny said. "That's my husband your talking about."

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — **_**a letter for Harry**_**.**

"Oh, so you got your letter," Teddy said. "Now what's your uncle gonna do about it."

"You'll see," Harry said.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? **

"ME!" everyone yelled.

"Yeah, if we knew where you were at the time," Ron said.

**He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr. H. Potter **_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs **_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging, Surrey**_

"How did they know where you slept?" Domonique asked.

"It's Hogwarts," Arthur said. "When Ron got his, they put _The Room Right Below the Attic._"

"DAD!" Ron yelled.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. **

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter **_**H**_**. **

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

"That is just wrong," George said. "Laughing at your own joke, honestly!"

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. **

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard. **

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…" **

"Good for her. She deserved it. She also deserved you blowing her up," George said to Harry.

**"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

"Oh, great observation, Einstein," Hermione said.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"A Muggle scientist," Hermione said, rubbing her temples.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

**"That's **_**mine**_**!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge. **

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped. **

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise. **

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!"**

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick. **

"Really, Dudley!" Louis yelled. "He doesn't even respect his own parents. What a monster!"

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

**"**_**I **_**want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's **_**mine**_**."**

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope. **

**Harry didn't move. "I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"Wow!" James said. "I always thought Lily got her temper from Mum, now I know it's from you, Dad."

**"Let **_**me **_**see it!" demanded Dudley. **

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them.**

**Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor. **

"Really!" Audrey yelled. "That kid gets whatever he wants!"

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?" **

**"Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly**.

**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —" **

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. **

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…" **

Fred made a buzzing noise, like a sound you would here when a game show contestant gets an answer wrong. "WRONG!" both he and Roxanne yelled at the same time.

"That's not gonna work," Roxanne said.

"They're going to keep trying—" Fred said.

"—until they get an answer," Roxanne finished.

"Twins, twins," Molly said. "I remember taking care of them, always finishing their sentences, dressing alike to fool you, and always tricking you to see if you can tell who's who. It's a good thing you have fraternal twins. You can tell them apart."

**"But —" **

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

Most of the people listening widened their eyes in surprise.

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?" **

**"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

**"It was **_**not **_**a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

"Yep," Ron said, stifling a laugh, "it had your cupboard on it. Harry, it's not your cupboard, it's the Dursleys'."

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful. "Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it …we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom.**

"THAT KID HAD A SECOND BEDROOM AND MADE POOR HARRY SLEEP IN THE CUPBOARD!" Ginny yelled. Everyone around her backed away 2 feet from her. Everyone knew what she was like in one of her "moods."

**"Why?" said Harry. **

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now." **

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms:** **one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom.**

Ginny looked like she was about to explode with anger. "GAH—ICK—BA—" Ginny made those noises. Harry and her children looked at her like she grew another head.

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

"Calm down, Ginny," Ginny muttered to herself. "It's not happening now, Harry's right here and safe. Nothing to worry about."

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't **_**want **_**him in there… I **_**need **_**that room… make him get out…"**

"Yay! For once, that little brat doesn't get what he wants!" Lily exclaimed.

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back.**

"That kid throws a lot of tantrums," Hugo said.

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall.**

"Yeah, that would have been the practical thing to do," Albus said. "Why didn't you think of that, Dad?"

"I was 10 years old. Look at James, that's how I was," Harry said.

**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly. **

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. **

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand. **

**"Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," **

"Yeah, he really means a lot to you," Victoire said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "He even remembered where you slept."

**he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go." **

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan. **

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights. He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.**

"Nice plan," Rose said, "but watch it blow up."

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door — **

**"AAAAARRRGH!" **

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something **_**alive**_**! **

"See," Rose said.

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

** Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

"I hope you left a big footprint on his face," Bill said.

"Sadly, no," Harry said.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink. **

**"I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. **

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"That's a little bit too much," Arthur said.

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver **_**them they'll just give up." **

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon." **

"Well, at least one of them has brains," Charlie said.

"Well, she is related to my mum," Harry said, "and she's smart."

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. **

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises. **

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor. **

**"Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you **_**this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"Hogwarts, his real people, _us!_" Angelina yelled.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. "No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —"**

"Oh, so _that's_ why he's so bloody happy," Ron said. "Happy for not getting any letters. I bet something's going to happen."

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one —**

"YOU CAN DO IT, UNCLE HARRY!" Fred and Roxanne yelled at the same time, jumping up and down.

**"Out! OUT!" **

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. **

"NOOOOOOOO!" the twins yelled at the same time, sitting back down.

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. **

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" **

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

"What's all that stuff?" Ron asked.

"Honestly, Ronald," Hermione said. "You need to research some Muggle stuff sometimes. Anyways, you know what a television is, a VCR is a device where you can watch videos on the TV, and a computer is where you search things up, some people say that it's easier than a library. I don't."

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. **

**"Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"Foul little git," Arthur muttered.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

"Oh, no! Poor Dudley can't go this long without his poor little electronics! Boo hoo!" George said.

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. **

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address: **

_**Mr. H. Potter **_

_**Room 17 **_

_**Railview Hotel **_

_**Cokeworth **_

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room. **

**"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage. **

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. **

"And you just realized that now, Dursley?" Albus said.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled. **

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television**_**." **

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it **_**was **_**Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday.**

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

"Wow! That must have been the _best _birthday in the world!" Domonique said, sarcastically.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day. Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought. **

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!" **

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

"THAT WAS THE BEST DAMN PLACE THEY COULD FIND!" Ginny yelled. Molly didn't even care that her daughter just cursed, she was too busy shaking with anger herself.

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" **

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them. **

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!" **

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house. **

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms. **

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up. "Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

"Key word: _thought,_" Rose said. "He _thought_ that no one could deliver Harry a letter, but I bet he was wrong, as he usually is."

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

Harry nervously put a hand on his wife's shoulder, trying to help her calm down, because she was shaking so much with anger.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger.**

**Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

"At Hogwarts, of course," George said.

"Guys, can we please stop interrupting the story, it's already 6:00, and we started at 2. We need to stop soon," Hermione said.

"Okay," George said.

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow. **

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea? **

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him— three… two… one… BOOM.**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"And that's the end," Bill said.

"Let's continue in the morning, after breakfast," Molly said. "Charlie, would you like to read next in the morning?"

"Sure," Charlie said.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but hopefully, soon.**

**Please review telling me your ideas, your favorite part, or just your comments!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Keeper of the Keys

Chapter 5: The Keeper of the Keys

The next morning, all the kids wolfed down their breakfast and quickly went into the living room and were literally bouncing up and down while sitting. When everyone saw them, they couldn't help but smile. When everyone was in the living room, the children stopped bouncing and were staring with excitement in their eyes.

"Okay," Arthur said. "Apparently, all the children are excited to read, so Charlie, go ahead." Charlie grabbed the book and read out loud, "**Chapter 4: The Keeper of the Keys**."

"HAGRID!" George and his children exclaimed.

"Yes, it's Hagrid," Hermione said, rubbing her temples.

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. **"**Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

Everyone laughed at that.

"I think that's the most sense Dudley has ever made," Harry said.

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

"Everyone who knew what a rifle was gasped. Audrey even said, "Stupid Muggle. He's so paranoid."

"**Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!"**

**There was a pause. Then —SMASH!**

"Hagrid smashed down the door?" Ron said in shock. "That's so unlike him."

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. **

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair. **

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all. **

"**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…" **

"Only Hagrid can ask for a cup of tea after he knocked someone's door down," said Charlie.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear. **

"**Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger. **

"Yeah, Hagrid!" Molly II said. "Well, at least _he _had some sense to tell it straight forward."

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

"**An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

"How weird did you feel when a complete stranger knew your name, Dad," James asked his father.

"Pretty weird and I thought that I was going crazy," Harry replied.

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile. **

"**Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes." **

"You've never heard that one before, Harry," Ron said sarcastically.

"Yeah, never," Harry said, playing along.

"So I'm guessing you hear that a lot, Harry," Teddy said.

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. **"**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"What does that mean?" Ron asked.

Hermione was annoyed that she had to answer every single question about Muggle life, that she said, "Ron and everyone else, if you don't understand something about the Muggle world, please write it down and me and everyone else who knows about Muggles will answer it at the end of each chapter."

So Ron and most of the children wrote down "breaking and entering."

"**Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Yeah Hagrid!" was pretty much what everyone said.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

"Is he a professional noise-maker?" Dominique asked Harry.

"No, he makes funny noises a lot."

"**Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." **

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with **_**Happy Birthday Harry **_**written on it in green icing. **

All the girls said, "Aw," as that was sweet of Hagrid to do that to Harry.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"You should've gone with the first choice and then said the second," Hugo said.

**The giant chuckled. **

"**True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." **

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. **

"**What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind." **

"Why would an eleven-year-old boy be carrying around alcohol?" Molly exclaimed.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there.**

"I bet the Dursleys didn't like that," Roxanne said with a laugh.

**It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath. **

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**

"Okay, Hagrid officially has too many pockets," Lily said.

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"Like that boy needs any more food," Fleur said.

**The giant chuckled darkly. **

"**Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." **

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. **

"**Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

"No, no he doesn't," Molly said. "BECAUSE THE DURSLEYS NEVER TOLD HIM ONE BLOODY THING ABOUT HOGWARTS OR ANYTHING!" Everyone stared at her with wide eyes.

"**Er — no," said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

"**Sorry," Harry said quickly. **

"_**Sorry**_**?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?" **

"**All what?" asked Harry. **

"**ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" **

"Hagrid's going nuts!" George said in a sing-song voice.

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall. **

"**Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?" **

"Now that I hear it, it makes me sound like I'm thick," Harry said. Everyone laughed.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

"**I know **_**some **_**things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." **

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About **_**our **_**world, I mean. **_**Your **_**world. **_**My **_**world. **_**Yer parents' world**_**." **

"**What world?" **

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode. **

"**DURSLEY!" he boomed. **

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." **

"See there's another crazy sound," Dominique said. "Seriously if there was a sound making contest, he would be in the top three."

**Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. **

"**But yeh must know about yer mum and dad," he said. "I mean, they're **_**famous**_**. You're **_**famous**_**." **

"**What? My — my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?" **

"Nooooooo," Fred and Roxanne said at the same time.

"I mean—" Fred started.

"—it's not like they risked their life—" Roxanne continued.

"—to save you or anything," they finished at the same time.

"**Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. **

"**Yeh don' know what yeh **_**are**_**?" he said finally. **

"Yes, I'm a _human being_," Harry said sarcastically, saying "human being" really slow, like talking to a 3 year old.

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

"**Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"You can't make him do anything, Dursley," Bill said, putting as much spite as he could into Dursley.

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage. **

"**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?" **

"**Kept **_**what **_**from me?" said Harry eagerly. **

"**STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Drama queen," Angelina, Ginny, and Audrey said at the same time.

"**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,** " **said Hagrid. "Harry — yer a wizard."**

"Dun, dun, dun!" Molly II and Lucy said at the same time.

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. **

"**I'm a **_**what**_**?" gasped Harry. **

"A. Wiz—ard," George said as if talking to a young child.

"**A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"No, that time was about a couple days ago when the first letter appeared," Percy said.

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to **_**Mr. H. Potter, **_

_**The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, **_

_**The Sea.**_

"And they knew where he slept. Figures," Rose said.

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY **_

_**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE **_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) **_

_**Dear Mr. Potter, **_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. **_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. **_

_**Yours sincerely, **_

_**Minerva McGonagall, **_

_**Deputy Headmistress **_

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?" **

"**Gallopin' Gorgons**

Everyone made a strange face at that comment.

**, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl — a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down: **

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore, **_

_**Given Harry his letter. **_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. **_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well. **_

_**Hagrid **_

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm**.

"Poor owl," Charlie said, as he cares a lot about creatures. "The owl didn't feel good about that."

**Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. **

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly. **

"**Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight. **

"**He's not going," he said. **

"Uh-huh, he is," Louis said. Then he muttered under his breath, "Stupid Dursley."

**Hagrid grunted. **

"**I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said. **

"**A what?" said Harry, interested. **

"**A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on." **

"**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

"Not the best thing to say when you were trying to ignore that for 10 years," Albus said.

"**You **_**knew**_**?" said Harry. "You **_**knew **_**I'm a — a wizard?"**

"**Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "**_**Knew**_**! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?**

"My grandmother was not that bad, according to what Dad says, at least," Lily said, talking about her namesake.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that **_**school **_**— and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak! **

Everyone started making random outbursts about that. Ginny didn't calm down until 10 minutes later. Then Charlie started again.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!" **

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years. **

"**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —**_**abnormal **_**— and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!" **

"It wasn't her fault she died!" Hermione exclaimed. She was fuming with anger and even Ron was afraid of her now.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" **

"**CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. **

"Hagrid's very angry," Fred and Roxanne said again in the sing-song voice.

"**How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!" **

"**But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently. **

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious. **

"**I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." **

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. **

"It's about time someone did that!" Arthur yelled.

"**Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…" **

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —" **

"**Who?" **

"**Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does." **

"**Why not?" **

"**Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…" **

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out. **

"**Could you write it down?" Harry suggested. **

"**Nah — can't spell it. **

"It's easy. Do it with me," Lucy said. "V-O-L-D-E-M-O-R-T. See was it that hard?"

"Lucinda Audrey Weasley!" her father exclaimed.

"Yes Daddy?" she said with a nervous smile on her face.

"How do you know that name?" Percy asked.

"It's everywhere in History of Magic and I'm a good speller," she replied.

**All right —**_**Voldemort**_**. "**

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, **'**cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

"**Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. **

"**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way.**

"He could never do that," Harry said. Everyone else nodded.

**All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —"**

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn. **

"**Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa… **

"**You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you,**

"HE'S SPECIAL!" George exclaimed. He shut up after he saw the look on his wife's face.

**an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts**

Tears trickled down Molly's face when they mentioned her brother. Arthur put a comforting arm around her.

**an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

All the girls gave a small gasp and Ginny started to cry.

"You remember that?" Hermione asked as she, too, started to cry. Harry nodded in reply.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly. **

"**Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot… ." **

"**Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched. **

"**Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured** **and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion**

"No one asked _you_," James said.

**asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end —"**

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…" **

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent. **

"That would've been nice if he was shish-ka-bobbed on an umbrella," Molly II said.

**That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor. **

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. **

"Please don't tell us you asked all of them," Fleur said. "Because that would take the rest of the week to finish just this chapter."

"No, I didn't ask all of them," Harry said with a slight laugh.

"**But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"**Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go?**

"**Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. **

"**Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. **

"That one's the truth," Harry said. "Stupid Albania. Why couldn't you have kicked him out?"

**Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — **_**I **_**dunno what it was, no one does — but somethin' about you stumped him, all right." **

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. **

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

Ron and some kids wrote down "football."

"**Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard." **

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. **

"**Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?" **

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back… and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him? **

"Yes, yes you did," Roxanne said. "And it was bloody brilliant!"

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him. **

"**See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts." **

"Unfortunately," Ron muttered under his breath. Apparently, he was still jealous about Harry being so famous and Hogwarts and him being pushed to the side.

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight. **"**Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —**

"**If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—" **

"**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon. **

"Oh no," Angelina said. "That did it."

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!"**

"Or me," was the general idea around the room.

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

Everyone burst out laughing. Most of the kids were rolling with laughter on the ground. About 5 minutes later was when everyone was calmed down.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. **

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard. **

"**Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do." **

Everyone started laughing again.

"Who knew Hagrid had a sense of humor?" Hugo asked.

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. **

"**Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job." **

"**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry. **

"**Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." **

"**Why were you expelled?" **

"Save that for a later time," Victoire said.

"**It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." **

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry. **

"**You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets." **

"Who keeps dormice in their pockets?" Molly asked with a weird look on her face.

"And that's the end of the chapter," Charlie said. "Percy, you can read next."

"Sure, give it to Percy the pompous prat," George said.

"HEY!" Audrey exclaimed. "That's my husband you're talking about." George gave her a look and she said, "Well, he can be a bit of a pompous prat sometimes." Everyone laughed while her husband gave her an angry look, which she replied with an apologetic one.

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><p><strong>AN: That's it for chapter 5. If anyone has anything they want to see, don't hesitate to say. **

**Now, onto reviews:**

**Vans321: Thanks and I hope you liked this chapter. :D**

**tez-chan: You are very welcome.**

**Remember: REVIEW! The most important thing in the world!**


	6. Chapter 6: Diagon Alley

Chapter 6: Diagon Alley

**A/N: In the last chapter, I made Hermione say that she would explain about words that they didn't know at the end of the **_**chapter.**_** What I meant was by the end of the day, which means that every three, four chapters.**

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><p>Charlie handed the book to Percy, who read, "<strong>Chapter 5: Diagon Alley<strong>."

"So this is where you went to Diagon Alley," Audrey said. "You were probably amazed by the magic. I was too, as I was a Muggle-born."

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight. **

_**It was a dream, **_**he told himself firmly. **

"No, it wasn't, Dad," Lily said.

_**I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard.**_

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise. **

_**And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door**_**, Harry thought, his heart sinking.**

**But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

"Even though it wasn't a dream," Ron said.

**Tap. Tap. Tap. **

"**All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up." **

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak. **

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. **

**The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat. **

"**Don't do that." **

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, **

"Harry, that's very dangerous with owls," Charlie, the animal expert, said. "They could peck your eyes out or other uncomfortable places."

**but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

"**Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl —" **

"**Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa. **

"How does he know what that means?" Molly said. "He just figured out what he was a couple of hours ago."

"**What?" **

"**He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."**

"He has too many pockets that he won't know which one to look in," Molly II said.

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing **_**but **_**pockets — bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags… finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

"**Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

"**Knuts?"**

"**The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

"**Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

"Wait, wait, wait," Ginny said. "If Hagrid just got up 5 seconds after Harry paid the owl, then why couldn't he just do it?"

"I don't know Gin, I just don't know," Harry said, putting an arm around her.

"Well I know," George said. "He is too lazy to do it himself."

"Yeah, that's probably it," Harry said.

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

"Did your cousin come back and squish you?" Fred asked, excitedly. He got a stern look from his mother and he looked downcast.

"**Um — Hagrid?"**

"**Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

"**I haven't got any money — and you heard Uncle Vernon last night… he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

"**Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

"**But if their house was destroyed —"**

"Why would someone keep their money in their house? Even if they were the best wizards and witches in the world, they would still keep their money in a bank," Rose said, smartly.

"Rose," Hugo said.

"Yeah."

"Stop being so smart. It hurts!" Hugo exclaimed, holding his head.

"**They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold — an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

"**Wizards have **_**banks**_**?"**

"**Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

"_**Goblins**_**?"**

"**Yeah — so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry.**

"Yeah, Harry," Hermione said, obviously talking about the Gringotts escape. "You'd be mad to try and rob it."

"Yeah, but we were mad in our seventh year, weren't we?" Ron whispered, only so Harry and Hermione could hear.

"Dad, did you break into Gringotts?" Lily asked, as she could obviously hear them.

"No," he said. Then he whispered to Ron and Hermione, "We need to work on our whispering, don't we?"

"Yes, yes you do," Albus said.

**Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe — 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you — gettin' things from Gringotts — knows he can trust me, see. Got everythin'? Come on, then." Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

"**How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

"**Flew," said Hagrid.**

"_**Flew**_**?"**

"**Yeah — but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

Suddenly, all the children burst out laughing, trying to imagine a 7-foot giant flying.

"**Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter — er — speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

"**Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

"**Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

"**Spells — enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults.**

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, knowingly, then burst out laughing.

**And then yeh gotta find yer way — Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the **_**Daily Prophet**_**. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

"**Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

"**There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

"'**Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

"**But what does a Ministry of Magic **_**do**_**?"**

"**Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

"**Why?"**

"_**Why? **_**Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

"Yes, they came up with that so people can park," Audrey said sarcastically.

Some of the adults and a couple of children wrote "parking meter" on their parchment.

"**Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are **_**dragons **_**at Gringotts?"**

"**Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

"**You'd **_**like **_**one?"**

"**Wanted one ever since I was a kid — here we go."**

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

"**Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches.**

**Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

"**Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**UNIFORM**_

_**First-year students will require:**_

_**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**_

_**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**_

_**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**_

_**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**_

_**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**_

_**COURSE BOOKS**_

_**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**_

_**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)by Miranda Goshawk**_

_**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**_

_**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**_

_**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch**_

_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**_

_**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**_

_**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**_

_**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**_

_**OTHER EQUIPMENT**_

_**1 wand**_

_**1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)**_

_**1 set of glass or crystal phials**_

_**1 telescope set**_

_**1 brass scales**_

_**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**_

_**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**_

"Yeah, except you got one, Dad," James said.

"Yeah, McGonagall bent the rules a bit," George said.

"**Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

"**If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

"**I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?**

"Yeah, suddenly, Fat Dudley is going to jump out and yell, 'April Fool's,' even though it's not April," Lucy said.

**If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

"**This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it.**

**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?****"**

"**Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

"**Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this — can this be —?"**

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

"Yeah, everyone goes quiet when Harry's in a room," Teddy said, his hair turning golden yellow.

"**Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter… what an honor."**

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

"**Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.**

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

Suddenly, Fred and Roxanne got up and started walking towards Harry. Once they got to him, they started shaking hands and said stuff like, "Nice to meet you, Harry," and, "Good to see you, Mr. Potter."

"Fred, Roxanne, down, now!" Angelina said through gritted teeth. Meanwhile, her husband was bending over with laughter. "George! Stop it!"

"**Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

"**So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

"**Always wanted to shake your hand — I'm all of a flutter."**

"**Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

"**I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

"**He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again — Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

"**Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

Everyone who knew the secret of Quirrell tensed at his name. Some of the kids looked at them strangely.

"**P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."**

"You really aren't," Harry muttered. "It's only the Voldemort in you."

"**What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

"**D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it.**

"**N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

"**Must get on — lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

**Hagrid grinned at Harry.**

"**Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh — mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

"**Is he always that nervous?"**

"**Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience… They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag — never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject — now, where's me umbrella?"**

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

"**Three up… two across…" he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.**

Harry smiled at the reminder of Diagon Alley, and how he was confused as to why Hagrid was tapping the wall with his pink umbrella.

**The brick he had touched quivered — it wriggled — in the middle, a small hole appeared — it grew wider and wider — a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

"**Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons — All Sizes — Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

"**Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes.**

**He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad…"**

Molly's eyes widened.

"Mum, was that you?" Bill asked.

"Maybe," Molly mumbled.

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium — Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever —"**

"Yeah, it used to be," James, the Quidditch freak, said. "Now that there's the Nimbus Three Thousand, the old Two Thousand is for antique lovers."

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon…**

"**Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was —**

"**Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

_**Enter, stranger, but take heed**_

_**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**_

_**For those who take, but do not earn,**_

_**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**_

_**So if you seek beneath our floors**_

_**A treasure that was never yours,**_

_**Thief, you have been warned, beware**_

_**Of finding more than treasure there.**_

"Yeah, we already found out what the 'more than treasure,' part was. Right?" Ron said to Harry.

"**Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

"**Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

"**You have his key, sir?"**

"**Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

"**Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely.**

"**That seems to be in order."**

"**An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

"Whenever you replace something with You-Know-insert word, it always makes the child want to discover more," Louis said.

"Yeah," Dominique said.

**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

"**Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

Harry grimaced remembering the goblin that betrayed them.

**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

"**What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

"**Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in — Hagrid with some difficulty — and were off.**

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible.**

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late**

"We do _not_ need to know if it was a real dragon, as we do _not _want another experience with that," Hermione said.

— **they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

"**I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

"Stalagmites are—" Rose began, but Harry interrupted by saying, "I know what they are."

"**Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."**

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

The Weasley kids, who haven't seen that much money in their life, sat there with an imaginative look on their faces. The adults couldn't help but smile.

"**All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

**All Harry's — it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

"**The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

"**One speed only," said Griphook.**

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

"**Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

"**If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.**

"**How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

"**About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least **— **but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor.**

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Victoire said.

**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

"**Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life — more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

"Ha, ha!" Molly II said. "Finally, that little brat doesn't have something that Harry does! Yeah!"

"**Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

"**Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here — another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes.**

"Malfoy," all the adults growled.

**Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

"**Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

"**Yes," said Harry.**

"**My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy.**

**He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

"Is this Malfoy character brattier than Dudley?" Lucy asked.

"Very much," Ron said.

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

"**Have **_**you **_**got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

"**No," said Harry.**

"**Play Quidditch at all?"**

"**No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

"Dad! It's the best sport in the entire world. No, galaxy," James said.

"Aw, little Jamie finally learned something bigger than the planet. Good job!" Rose mocked.

"Shut it, Rosie," James growled.

"_**I **_**do — Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

"**No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

"**Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"**

"There's nothing wrong with being in Hufflepuff," Teddy said, being a Hufflepuff himself.

"**Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

"**I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

"**That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

"**Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"No! He's a person!" Charlie said.

"**He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

"**Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of **_**savage **_— **lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

"**I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"_**Do **_**you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

"**They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

"**Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all.**

"**But they were **_**our **_**kind, weren't they?"**

"How prejudice!" Rose yelled. "Muggle or magical, it doesn't make a difference!"

"How true!" Victoire said. Out of the whole family, those two girls hated people who were pure-blood maniacs.

"**They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

"**I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

"**Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

"**What's up?" said Hagrid.**

"**Nothing," Harry lied.**

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

"I still stand by what I said before," James said.

"**Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know — not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

"**Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's.**

"— **and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in —"**

"**Yer not **_**from **_**a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh **_**were **_— **he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles — look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

"Good point," was what pretty much everyone said.

"**So what **_**is **_**Quidditch?"**

"**It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like — like soccer in the Muggle world — everyone follows Quidditch — played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls — sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

"No, it's actually quite easy," Charlie said.

"**And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

"**School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but —"**

"Not true!" Teddy yelled.

"**I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily.**

"It wouldn't be too bad," Teddy said.

"**Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

"True, true," Arthur said.

"**Vol-, sorry —You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

"**Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from **_**Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) **_**by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

"**I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"Nice one Harry," George said, while everyone else burst out laughing.

"**I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

"**Just yer wand left — A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

**Harry felt himself go red.**

"Don't be embarrassed by a present," Roxanne said.

"**You don't have to —"**

"**I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at** — **an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

"**Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now — only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

**A magic wand… this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled.**

**The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

"**Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

"**Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

"**Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work.**"** Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

"**Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it — it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

"**And that's where…"**

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

"**I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…"**

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

"**Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again… Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

"**It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

"**Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

"**Er — yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

"**But you don't **_**use **_**them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

"**Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"**Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now — Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

"**Er — well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

"**Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

"**That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."**

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

"**Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try —"**

**Harry tried — but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.**

"**No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

"How many wands did you try out?" Hugo asked.

"A couple," Harry said.

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

"**Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere — I wonder, now — yes, why not — unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."**

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers.**

"That's it," Molly II said.

**He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.**

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…"**

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…"**

"**Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.**

"**I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."**

All the children gasped.

**Harry swallowed.**

"**Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter… After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great."**

"How can he be great?" Albus asked, surprised.

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

"**Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"**You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life — and yet — he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

"**Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last.**

"**All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander… but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry — I mean, the night my parents died."**

"Yeah, that's a tragedy," Lucy said sarcastically. "Not really," she said in her normal voice.

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

"**Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts — I did — still do, 'smatter of fact."**

"Yes, everyone does," Ron said. "I started out worse than you."

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.**

"**Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September — King's Cross — it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me…. See yeh soon, Harry."**

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"And that's the end," Percy said, giving the book to George.

"Oh, it's my turn?" George said sarcastically. "Oh thank you Percival."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Not one of my best, as I wrote this at 11:00 at night, so yeah. Please review.**

**Okay, now I have a poll for you.**

**Who would you want to show up later in these chapters:**

**Neville and Luna, plus their children and spouses**

**Scorpius and Draco**

**Dean and Seamus**

**Some OC's of my creation that are in Rose and Albus's year.**

**Thanks! And leave your answer in a review or PM me.**


	7. The Journey from Platform 9 34

**A/N: Yay! A new chapter. The poll from the last chapter is still going on, but I'm pretty sure the Malfoys are gonna win, but I just wanna know. If you don't know what the poll is, I'll repost it at the bottom. So, see ya at the bottom.**

**_i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today_  
><strong>

Chapter 7: The Journey from Platform 9 ¾

George took the book from Percy and read, "**Chapter 6: The Journey from Platform 9 ¾**."

"That's where I come in, right?" Ron asked.

"And me," Hermione said.

"And the rest of the Weasleys," Harry said. "George, continue."

**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him — in fact, they didn't speak to him at all.**

"Aw!" Lily said. "That's sad, not being talked to for a whole month."

"I didn't care," Harry said. "I was used to it. Actually, I snuck out some of Dudley's ice cream and they didn't mind." That made the family laugh.

**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty.**

**Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while. Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in **_**A History of Magic**_**. His school books were very interesting.**

"Really, Harry?" Ron said. "You were a Hermione for a while. I guess that stage lasted until classes started."

"Pretty much," Harry said.

**He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.**

"I remember doing that," Audrey said.

"Me too," Hermione and Angelina said at the same time.

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.**

There was a chorus of laughter throughout the room.

**"Er — Uncle Vernon?" **

**Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening. **

"**Er — I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to — to go to Hogwarts." **

**Uncle Vernon grunted again. **

"**Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" **

**Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.**

"Great, more noises," Dominique said.

**"Thank you." **

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. **

"**Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" **

"Actually," Arthur said, "they are more common in the Far East, not so much here, unless you smuggle it in illegally."

**Harry didn't say anything. **

"**Where is this school, anyway?" **

"**I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket. **

**"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.**

**His aunt and uncle stared.**

"What don't you understand about Platform 9 ¾?" Bill asked. "It's pretty straightforward."

"**Platform what?" **

"**Nine and three-quarters." **

"**Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters." **

**"It's on my ticket." **

"**Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother." **

"**Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly. **

"**Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings." **

"No, don't do that!" Fred and Roxanne said at the same time.

"It'll show who he really is," Fred added.

**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes — he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up.**

"Really, five a.m., Harry?" Teddy said. "Even _I _wasn't that anxious."

"Yeah, but you were a close second," Victoire said. "You got up at 7, almost fell down the stairs, almost bounced off the walls in the car, and nearly killed yourself getting yourself on the platform." Everyone laughed at the memory.

**Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off. **

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him.**

"That's oddly out of character," Molly II said.

**Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face. **

"**Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine — platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?" **

"Yes, they have," Percy, the human encyclopedia, said. "They built it about 1000 years ag—"

"Aaah," Albus said, holding his head. "It hurts!"

"What?" his mother asked.

"The sound of him talking," he replied, pointing to Percy, who scowled.

**He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all. **

"**Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing**

"Now that's in character," Molly II said, going off what she said earlier.

**Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone. He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters.**

"Well, of course," Rose said. "That would be stupid if you did." Her mother gave her a look, then she said, "I mean, it wouldn't be wise of you but you would still be really, _really_ smart."

**The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.**

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.**

"That would just draw attention to you," Lucy said. "Imagine seeing an eleven year old boy, tapping bricks with a stick, alone. Doesn't that seem weird?"

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"— **packed with Muggles, of course —" **

"WIZARDS!" Fred and Roxanne yelled.

**Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair.**

"THE WEASLEY HAIR!" the twins yelled again.

"George, tell your children that I'm losing hearing because of them," Percy said.

**Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him — and they had an **_**owl**_**. **

**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.**

**"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.**

"Grandma, why would you ask that?" James said. "It's always Platform 9 ¾, probably even since you were a kid."

"I don't know," Molly said.

**"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go…"**

"Oh, great. Me as a child. Why did I whine? I was so immature then," Ginny said.

"Well then what about the time when you whined because I wouldn't give you chocolate?" Harry said.

"I was a child then," Ginny quickly replied.

"That was last week," Harry said.

"Exactly."

**"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first." **

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten.**

"I'm not the oldest," Percy said. "I'm the—"

"I know, I know," Harry said. "You just looked the eldest as you were the oldest one there at the time."

**Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.**

"He didn't vanish, Uncle Harry," Louis said. "He—"

"I _know_!" Harry said, exasperated.

**"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.**

George took a quick intake of breath before he read the line with his late twin in it.

"**I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you **_**tell **_**I'm George?"**

**"Sorry, George, dear." **

"**Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went.**

A few people chuckled, but then noticed George's expression, and that he wanted to get through this part quickly, so they stopped.

**His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone — but how had he done it? Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.**

**There was nothing else for it. **

"**Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman. **

"**Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

**She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.**

"Nice description of me, Harry," Ron said, sarcastically to his best friend.

**"Yes," said Harry. "The thing is — the thing is, I don't know how to —" **

"**How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded. **

"**Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."**

**"Er — okay," said Harry. **

**He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. **

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble — leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run — the barrier was coming nearer and nearer — he wouldn't be able to stop — the cart was out of control — he was a foot away — he closed his eyes ready for the crash —**

**It didn't come… he kept on running… he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said **_**Hogwarts' Express, eleven o'clock**_**. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words **_**Platform Nine and Three-Quarters **_**on it, He had done it. **

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. **

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again." **

"Oh, Neville," Harry, Ron, and Hermione said at the same time.

"Always losing Trevor," Hermione continued.

"Yeah, always," Ron said.

"I wonder what he did with him," Harry said.

**"Oh, **_**Neville**_**," he heard the old woman sigh. **

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. **

"**Give us a look, Lee, go on." **

"Oh, the tarantula," George said. "I remember that. It tried to jump on Alicia, remember?"

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.**

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.**

"**Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier."**

**"Yes, please," Harry panted. **

"**Oi, Fred! C'mere and help!" **

"IT WAS ME!" George shouted.

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment. **

"**Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes. **

"**What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.**

"Oh, just a lightning scar that was caused by Voldemort who tried to kill me right after my parents died," Lucy said sarcastically.

**"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you —?" **

"**He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry. **

"**What?" said Harry. **

"_**Harry Potter**_**." chorused the twins. **

"**Oh, him," said Harry.**

"Yeah, me," Harry said.

**"I mean, yes, I am." **

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. **

"**Fred? George? Are you there?" **

"**Coming, Mom." **

**With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train. **

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying.**

"EAVESDROPPER!" most of the kids yelled.

**Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. **

"**Ron, you've got something on your nose." **

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.**

**"**_**Mom**_**— geroff" He wriggled free. **

"**Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins. **

"**Shut up," said Ron. **

"Ronniekins," George joked again. "I think you still have something on your nose. Let me get it."

"Shut it," Ron said.

"**Where's Percy?" said their mother. **

"**He's coming now." **

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter **_**P **_**on it.**

"My prefect days," Percy said.

"Better known as his pompous days," George said.

**"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —" **

"**Oh, are you a **_**prefect**_**, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea." **

"**Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once —" **

"**Or twice —" **

"**A minute —" **

"**All summer —"**

**"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect. **

"**How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins. **

"**Because he's a **_**prefect**_**," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there." **

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. **

**"Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"**

"You gave them another idea, didn't you, Molly?" Arthur asked his wife. She looked downcast.

**"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." **

"**Great idea though, thanks, Mom." **

"**It's **_**not funny**_**. And look after Ron." **

**"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us." **

"**Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it. **

"**Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" **

**Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking. **

"**You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?" **

"**Who?" **

"_**Harry Potter**_**!" **

**Harry heard the little girl's voice. **

"**Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, oh please…"**

**"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?" **

"**Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there — like lightning." **

"**Poor **_**dear **_— **no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform." **

**"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"**

"Yeah, _great_ question to ask," Rose said, sarcastically.

**Their mother suddenly became very stern. **

**"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."**

**"All right, keep your hair on." **

**A whistle sounded. **

"**Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry. **

**"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." **

"**We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat."**

"_**George!**_**" **

"**Only joking, Mom." **

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.**

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind. **

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in. **

"Aw, more mentioning of ickle Ronniekins," Roxanne said.

"First you, George, now your children. I've had enough of this," Ron said.

"**Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."**

"Wow, the only reason you'll sit with me. Thanks Ron," Harry said, sarcastically.

"Welcome, mate."

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.**

"**Hey, Ron." **

**The twins were back. **

"**Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there." **

**"Right," mumbled Ron.**

**"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley.**

**And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then." **

"**Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them. **

"**Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.**

"Really, Ronald," Hermione said. "I thought you were mature."

"Not then," he said.

**Harry nodded.**

"**Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got — you know…" **

**He pointed at Harry's forehead.**

**Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared. **

"**So that's where You-Know-Who —?"**

**"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it." **

"**Nothing?" said Ron eagerly. **

"**Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else." **

"**Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again. **

"**Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.**

**"Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

"Oh yeah," Arthur said. "Cousin Zeke. Yeah, we never talk about him."

**"So you must know loads of magic already." **

**The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about**

**"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?" **

"**Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers." **

"**Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."**

Harry scowled at the mention of Scabbers/Wormtail.

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.**

"**His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead." **

**Ron's ears went pink.**

Ron and the rest of Molly's children turned pink. All of their husbands and wives hugged them.

**He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. **

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up**.

**"… and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —" **

**Ron gasped. **

"**What?" said Harry. **

"_**You said You-Know-Who's name!**_**" **

"Well, duh, I said it," Harry said.

**said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —" **

"**I'm not trying to be **_**brave **_**or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn… I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class." **

"**You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough." **

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. **

**Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?" **

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor. **

**He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry**— **but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. **

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat. **

**"Hungry, are you?" **

"**Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. **

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef…" **

"**Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —" **

"**You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us." **

"**Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten).**

"Does anyone eat my sandwiches?" Molly asked.

"NO!" everyone exclaimed.

**"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. **"**They're not **_**really **_**frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him. **

"**No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa." **

"**What?" **

"**Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." **

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore. **

"**So **_**this **_**is Dumbledore!" said Harry. **

"**Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —" **

**Harry turned over his card and read: **

_**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE **_

_**CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS **_

_**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling. **_

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared. **

"**He's gone!" **

**"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. **"**He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting." **

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. "Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos." **

**"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "**_**Weird!"**_

**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.**

**You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they **_**mean **_**every flavor — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger-flavored one once." **

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. **

**"Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts.**

Everyone looked disgusted at the fact.

**They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. **

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. **

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.**

"And here comes the return of Neville Longbottom," George said.

**"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" **

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" **

"**He'll turn up," said Harry.**

**"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" **

**He left. **

"**Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could."**

"Ronald," groaned Mrs. Weasley.

"**Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."**

**The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap. **

"**He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…" **

**He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. **

"**Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —" **

**He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.**

"Of course it's Mum," Hugo said. "She's the only girl that I know that would put on her robes before you got to Hogwarts. Well, besides Rosie." That earned a glare from his mother and sister.

**"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.**

Hermione put a hand to her mouth, and Ron said, "They're fine. Remember fourth year?"

"When Harry and Draco fought?" Hermione said. "And I went to Madam Pomfrey and made my teeth smaller?"

"Yep." The kids looked confused.

"Fourth book," the trio said.

**"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. **

"**Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." **

**She sat down. Ron looked taken aback. **

**"Er — all right." **

**He cleared his throat. **

"**Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

"Oh God," Hugo muttered.

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. **

"**Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? **

**I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart,"**

"Rosie, you're gonna be just like Aunt Hermione," Lily said.

"**of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" **

**She said all this very fast. **

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.**

**"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered. **

"**Harry Potter," said Harry. **

"**Are you really?" said Hermione.** **"I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in **_**Modern Magical History **_**and **_**The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts **_**and **_**Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century**_**."**

"**Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed. **

"**Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." **

**And she left, taking the toadless boy with her. **

"**Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron.**

"But I will be," Hermione said. "And I will haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Now you're sounding like the Bloody Baron," Ron said.

"Oh, shut up," she said.

**He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."**

**"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry. **

"**Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw **_**would **_**be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." **

**"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?" **

"**Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed. **

"**You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses.**

**"So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" **

**Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school. **

"**Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron.**

**"Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the **_**Daily Prophet**_**, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault."**

**Harry stared. **

"**Really? What happened to them?" **

"**Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it." **

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying. **

"**What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked. **

"**Er — I don't know any." Harry confessed.**

"Poor Dad," James said.

**"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world —" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time. **

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.**

**"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" **

"**Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards. **

**"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."**

"I can totally imagine him saying that in the James Bond way," Rose said to her mother. Her mom nodded.

Some people wrote down 'James Bond' on their list.

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him. **"**Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."**

"THAT'S SO MEAN!" everyone yelled.

**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it. **

"**I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly. **

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. **

"You tell him, Harry," Fred said.

**"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you." **

**Both Harry and Ron stood up. **

"**Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

**"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered. **

"**Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron. **

"**But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." **

**Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell. **

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle.**

"GO SCABBERS!" the kids yelled while the adults sat there in silence.

— **Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in. **

"**What **_**has **_**been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail. **

"**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep." **

**And so he had. **

"**You've met Malfoy before?" **

**Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. **

"**I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?" **

"**You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"Same old Mum," Hugo said, "worrying about trouble before fun."

"**Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?" **

"**All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice.**

**"And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

"And she stated the obvious," Dominique said.

**Ron glared at her as she left.**

"How can you two end up marrying and having kids?" Molly II asked in shock. "It's a surprise you even became friends!"

**Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. **

**He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. **

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." **

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. **

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" **

**Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. **

"**C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" **

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.**

"Poor Neville," Lily said.

**"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." **

**There was a loud "Oooooh!" **

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. **

"**No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione.**

"Well, at least you let her on the boat," Molly II said.

"Yeah, they almost pushed me off of it as I got on," she said, glaring at the two boys, who were trying to hold in their laughter.

**"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!" **

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. **

"**Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. **

"**Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.**

"YAY, THE TOAD!" Fred and Roxanne yelled.

**Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. **

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. **

"**Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" **

**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

"And there's the end," George said.

Molly quickly checked the time and said, "We'll continue with Ron after we finish eating lunch."

_**i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today, i am your line today**_

**A/N: Okay, so that was the chapter. I forgot to tell ya'll that I'll only be updating every other week. If I don't, it's probably because I had a lot of homework or I was out of town.**

**Here's the poll that was on last chapter. It was for who you want to see later on.**

**Scorpius and Draco**

**Neville, Luna, and their children and spouses**

**Seamus and Dean**

**Some OC's that are in Rose and Albus's year. **

**So, see ya'll in 2 weeks!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Sorting Hat

Chapter 8: The Sorting Hat

* * *

><p>After the family had a nice lunch, everyone returned to the living room. Victoire looked around, suspiciously.<p>

"Vic, what do you have in your pockets?" Bill asked.

"Nothing, Daddy," Victoire said, putting on her, 'I'm guilty but I'm gonna try and be sweet, so I can get away with it,' face.

"Really?" her father said, not believing it. Then he stood up and went to his daughter and said, "Then you deserve a tickling!" he started tickling his daughter until she let go of what was in her hand. He picked it up and said, "Really, Licorice Wands, Vic! Where'd you get this?"

"I pd ugo tree sicles t gt tis," Vic mumbled.

"What?"

"I PAID HUGO THREE SICKLES TO GET IT, OKAY!" Victoire exclaimed.

"Hugo, take back the Wand and give Vic her money back," Bill said. Hugo, reluctantly gave her the money.

"Okay, enough with the family drama," Arthur said. "Ron, you read next."

"About time," Ron said. He quickly looked at the book and said, "Ugh, why do I have to get the Sorting chapter?"

"Ron, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit," Hermione mumbled in his ear.

"Don't talk to me like I'm Rose or Hugo … when they're three," Ron whisper-yelled.

"Just read!" everyone exclaimed.

"Alright," Ron said. "**The Sorting Hat**."  
>"Oh!" Roxanne exclaimed. "I wonder which House Harry's gonna be in! Hopefully, Gryffindor!"<p>

"No, he's gonna be in Hufflepuff," her twin replied. Roxanne nodded along with her twin.

Their mom rolled their eyes at them.

**The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.**

"Oh, it's Minnie!" George exclaimed.

"George, it's Professor McGonagall," Hermione said. "Or Minerva now that you are out of school."

"No, it's Minnie!" George exclaimed. They had a minute long argument, which included some of the family, before Ginny yelled, "SHUT IT!"

Everyone looked at her. "Thank you," she said sweetly.

**"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.**

**"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."**

**She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. **

**The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.**

**They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right — the rest of the school must already be here — but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.**

"Aw!" Fred and Roxanne said at the same time.

"Was wittle Hawwy, Won, and Hermwioniee scawered of a wittle itty bitty Sworting?" Lucy finished.

She received glares not only from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but her parents, too.

"What, I want to know!" she replied.

**"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts.  
><strong>  
>"Well, we were all in the same house, with the exception of Fleur, Teddy, Audrey, and those who haven't been Sorted yet," Molly II said, "so we are in the same house and we are family."<p>

"Mols," Angelina said. "I think that is the most sophisticated thing I've ever heard you say."

"Uh-oh," Molly II replied. "Did you know that family has the root of carrots," she quickly said, thinking of something really stupid. Everyone laughed and/or rolled their eyes at that lame, yet funny joke.

**You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.**

**"The four houses are called Gryffindor,**

All the people that were Sorted into Gryffindor, which was the majority of the family, yelled, "GO GRYFFINDOR!" or something along those lines.

**Hufflepuff,**

"Hufflepuff!" Teddy yelled. "Hufflepuff! Go Badgers!" Then he made a weird noise.

"Um, Teddy," Louis asked. "What the bloody hell was that?"

"It was a badger," Teddy replied sheepishly.

**Ravenclaw,**

"YEAH, RAVENS!" Audrey yelled, supporting her House.

**and Slytherin.**

"BOO!" James started and soon everyone joined in, until, yet again, Ginny yelled, "SHUT IT! Thank you."

**Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points.**

"Yeah, we didn't care, did we, Harry?" Ron said.

"No, we did not," Harry replied.

"Well, you should've," Hermione replied.

"Rosie," Ron said. "Have your mother and I told you the story about how in first year—"

"NO!" Hermione yelled.

"I'm telling the story!" Ron exclaimed. "So, in first year, your mother, Harry, and Neville lost, all together 150 points in one night."

"Hypocrite!" Rose yelled at her mother.

"Ron, why did you tell them that?" Hermione yelled. "They would've found out about it later, as we are reading the books!"

**At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor.  
><strong>  
>"What's so great about just a cup?" Dominique asked to nobody in particular.<p>

**I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. **

**"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."  
><strong>  
>"Why would you tidy up?" Louis asked. "We didn't have to do that when we were Sorted."<p>

**Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose.  
><strong>  
>"Oh, Dad, you still have the smudge on your nose," Hugo said, poking his dad's nose.<p>

"Do you want me to cut away your weekly allowance?" Ron asked.

"Woah, Dad the smudge is gone. Wow, it's like magic!" Hugo said.

**Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.**

"That's not gonna work," Albus said to his father, as he inherited his dad's hair and could never flatten it.

"I know," Harry said.

**"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."**

**She left the chamber. Harry swallowed.**

**"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.**

"How can you not know!" Dominique said.

"I didn't know much about the wizarding world and I was confused. And by the way, I was only 11!"

**"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."**

"Ron!" Molly exclaimed. "How many times have I told you NOT to listen to your older brothers?"

"A thousand times," Ron replied.

"And when have you listened?"

"Never," Ron replied, embarrassed.

"Uncle Ron, you've listened to Dad too many times," Roxanne said.

"Yeah, first the stupid spell, now this stupid excuse," Teddy said.

**Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet —what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived.**

"Well, yeah, because you didn't know who you were or what Hogwarts was gonna be like," Audrey said.

**He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need.  
><strong>  
>"Great, now I'm embarrassed by my mum," Hugo said.<p>

"Do you want me to make you clean your room for a week straight, no bribing Dad or anyone else to do it for you?" Hermione said sternly.

"I mean, I am totally not embarrassed by my mother. I love you, Mummy," he said, hopefully.

**Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue.  
><strong>  
>"Oh, God," Ginny mumbled.<p>

"That's so cool, Harry!" George, Charlie, and Bill said together.

"How'd that happen?" Louis asked, anxiously waiting.

"I don't know," Harry replied. "One moment, I was mad at the teacher, next thing, POOF, hair was blue."

Everyone laughed, while Fred and Roxanne mumbled mischievously.

"Fred, Roxanne, no planning of turning people's hair blue," Angelina said, sternly.

"Sorry, Mum," they said together.

"But, Angie!" George whined. "That would be so hilarious if they did!"

"I said no, George!"

**He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.  
><strong>  
>"A little overdramatic, weren't you?" Percy asked.<p>

"Guys, for the last time: I was 11, I didn't know anything about magic, and, plus, this was the most extraordinary thing I'd ever seen in my life!" Harry exclaimed.

"We got it, mate," Ron said. "No need to be all angry at us!"

**Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air — several people behind him screamed.**

**"What the —?"**

**He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing.**

"When are they not arguing?" Charlie asked. "They even argue about the simple things: the weather, what they are going to serve at the next feast, etc."

"That is so true," Fred said. "Even though I've been there for two years, every time I see them, they are arguing about something."

**What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance —"  
><strong>  
>"Oh, Teddy," Molly II said. "It's the Fat Friar, your House ghost. Aren't you gonna make the stupid badger noise again?"<p>

Everyone laughed, but when they finished, Teddy said, "GO HUFFLEPUFF!" Then he did his badger noise.

"Honestly, I really didn't think he'd do that," Molly II replied. Everyone laughed again.

**"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost — I say, what are you all doing here?"  
><strong>  
>"Oh, I don't know," Victoire said. "Just hanging out, talking. Oh yeah, WAITING TO BLOODY BE SORTED!"<p>

**A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.**

"Oh, it's Nick," Hermione said. "I've always wondered what happened to him. I've barely saw him since his deathday party."

"Deathday?" Lily asked.

"It's when a ghost celebrates their death," James said.

**Nobody answered.**

**"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"**

**A few people nodded mutely.**

**"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."**

"Yes, we know," Albus said. "GO BADGERS!" he exclaimed in a mocking tone. Then he tried to do the badger noise.

"No, it's like—" then Teddy did it. Soon, they were arguing over what noise was best. The continued fighting until Ginny said, "SHUT IT! Thank you."

**"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."**

**Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.**

**"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."**

**Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.**

**Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place.  
><strong>  
>"It really is magical," Arthur said. "When I first saw it, I almost fainted."<p>

"Yeah," Molly replied. "Onto me! And I had to put you upright."

**It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."  
><strong>  
>"Ugh, Aunt Hermione," Victoire said. "How many books have you read?"<p>

"I know!" Albus exclaimed. "Their house is filled with books."

"Mum," Rose said. "You never let me read Hogwarts: A History, and I really want to read it! Can I read it, please!"

"Ok," Hermione replied.

"Yay!" Rose exclaimed.

"Know-it-all," Hugo mumbled.

"What?" Rose said.

"Nothing!"

**It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.**

Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.

"No, she would not have," Harry said.

"If she did," Fred said, "she probably would've treated it like a cockroach and beaten it with a broom."

"Yeah," Roxanne continued. "Then the Sorting Hat would be like, 'You are definitely a Slytherin!'"

**Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing.**

"Uncle Harry, that's the wrong kind of magic," Lucy said. "That's the Muggle magicians way of magic. I actually tried doing that once. Needless to say, it didn't work."

**— noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:**

_**"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**_

"Oh, you are definitely not," Ron said.

_**But don't judge on what you see,**_

_**I'll eat myself if you can find**_

_**A smarter hat than me.**_

Fred started talking to his cousin, James.

"Ok, what we need to do is take all of our parents' magic and then put it on a bowler hat and then—" Fred started.

"THE SORTING HAT'LL EAT ITSELF!" they finished together.

"James, we won't give you our magic," Fleur said.

"Aw, but even I want to see the Sorting Hat eat itself," Louis whined.

"I said no, Louis," his mother snapped.

_**You can keep your bowlers black,**_

"No, but if we did put it on a bowler, it would be a lime green bowler," Fred said.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione tried to keep in a laugh.

_**Your top hats sleek and tall,**_

_**For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**_

_**And I can cap them all.**_

_**There's nothing hidden in your head**_

_**The Sorting Hat can't see,**_

_**So try me on and I will tell you**_

_**Where you ought to be.**_

_**You might belong in Gryffindor,**_

_**Where dwell the brave at heart,**_

_**Their daring, nerve, and chivalry**_

_**Set Gryffindors apart;**_

"You got that right," Charlie said.

_**You might belong in Hufflepuff,**_

_**Where they are just and loyal,**_

_**Those patient Hufflepuffs are true**_

_**And unafraid of toil;  
><strong>_  
>"That is so true," Teddy replied. He was about to do his badger noise when everyone yelled, "NO! NOT AGAIN!"<p>

"That's just mean," Teddy said.

_**Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,**_

_**if you've a ready mind,**_

_**Where those of wit and learning,**_

_**Will always find their kind;  
><strong>_  
>"Yep, we are the Smarties!" Audrey yelled.<p>

_**Or perhaps in Slytherin**_

_**You'll make your real friends,**_

_**Those cunning folk use any means**_

_**To achieve their ends.  
><strong>_  
>"Ain't that the truth," Dominique said. "Actually, one day, this really mean Slytherin called me a dumb blond, and he forced everyone to call me that for a week straight."<p>

"Dominique Alexandra Weasley!" Bill bellowed.

"Yes, Daddy?" Dominique replied.

"Why didn't you tell us that before?" he questioned.

"Because you and Mum and the rest of the family would use your Weasley temper and go beat him up or kill him, and I didn't want that to happen!" Dominique squeaked.

"Why, Dom?" Fred asked. "Were you in love with him?" Then he started making kissing noises. Or, at least until Dominique punched him.

"Yep, the Weasley temper definitely carried on through you," he replied, rubbing his arm.

_**So put me on! Don't be afraid!**_

_**And don't get in a flap!**_

_**You're in safe hands (though I have none)**_

_**For I'm a Thinking Cap!"  
><strong>_  
>"Why did the Sorting Hat say 'flap'?" Lily asked. "That's kinda stupid."<p>

"He was probably just rhyming it with 'cap,'" Harry said.

"Dad, how do you know that it's a he?" Albus asked.

"It has a boy voice," Harry replied.

"Yeah, but a lot of girls have deep voices, too," Albus replied.

"Can we please get off of this subject?" Angelina said.

**The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.  
><strong>  
>"And the Sorting Hat becomes still again," George said in a mock serious voice.<p>

"Oh no! It's dead!" Roxanne said, faking being freaked out.

**"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred; he was going on about wrestling a troll."  
><strong>  
>"Uh-oh," Hermione said. "Fred can now see the future."<p>

"What do you mean, Aunt 'Mione?" Lily asked.

"Wait until Halloween," the Golden Trio said together.

**Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching.**

All of the children stared at Harry with wide eyes.

"See, that's what I mean," Harry said, pouring at the children.

**The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment.**

"Oh, so that means you belong in the No House!" Molly II exclaimed.

"THE HOUSE WHERE NO ONE BELONGS!" Molly II, Fred, and Roxanne finished together.

**If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him  
><strong>  
>"Oh, that's the Barf House," Dominique said.<p>

**Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.**

**"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"**

"Oh, isn't that Uncle Nev's wife?" Albus asked. Harry nodded.

**A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause —**

**"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.  
><strong>  
>"YEAH!" Teddy yelled. "GO—"<p>

"SHUT IT!" all of the kids yelled.

"Tough crowd," Teddy said.

**The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.  
>"Bones, Susan!"<br>"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.**

"Teddy, please don't do the badger noise again, please," James said.

**"Boot, Terry!"**

**"RAVENCLAW!"  
><strong>  
>"YEAH—" Audrey started, but was interrupted by Arthur.<p>

"Nobody shall cheer for their House when someone gets Sorted into it," he said. Many people pouted.

**The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.**

**"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender"  
><strong>  
>Hermione literally growled. Ron put a nervous arm around her.<p>

"You know, I don't love her, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I still hate her," Hermione said. All the children looked confused.

"Sixth book," Hermione said.

**became the first new Gryffindor,**

"The girl that caused my daughter-in-law's pain is in Gryffindor?" Molly exclaimed. "That is so not fair!"

**and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.**

"Ooh, Dad," Fred said. "You had a crush on the girl that apparently caused Aunt 'Mione's pain. That is newsworthy!"

All the adults rolled their eyes.

**"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.**

"That is not your imagination, Harry," Percy said. "They are rather unpleasant."

**He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.**

**"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"  
><strong>  
>"What kind of name is that?" Louis asked.<p>

**"HUFFLEPUFF!"  
><strong>  
>Teddy opened his mouth, but everyone yelled, "NO!"<p>

"Still a tough crowd," Teddy murmured.

**Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus,"  
><strong>  
>"Uncle Seam, who lives in Ireland, right?" James asked.<p>

"Yep," Ron said.

**the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.  
><strong>  
>"That's not too bad," Charlie said.<p>

**"Granger, Hermione!"**

"Alright!" Hugo yelled. "It's Mum!"

**Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.**

"A little too excited?" Teddy asked.

**"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.**

"Hey!" Rose exclaimed. "That little one decision made you meet your future wife!"

"I know!" Ron said, smiling at Hermione.

**A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all?  
><strong>  
>"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Lucy said, sarcastically.<p>

**What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?  
><strong>  
>"Aw!" Angelina said. "That is so sad."<br>**  
>When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville.<strong>

"Poor Uncle Nev," Albus said.

**When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."  
><strong>  
>Everyone started laughing.<p>

**Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"  
><strong>  
>"Wow, big shocker," James said sarcastically.<p>

**Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.**

**There weren't many people left now. "Moon"…, "Nott"… , "Parkinson"… , then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"… , then "Perks, Sally-Anne"… , and then, at last —**

**"Potter, Harry!"  
><strong>  
>"Yay!" everyone yelled.<br>"Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff!" Fred and Roxanne murmured over and over. Harry rolled his eyes.

**As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.**

**"Potter, did she say?"**

**"The Harry Potter?"**

**The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.**

**"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult.  
><strong>  
>"No it's not," Fred said. "Hufflepuff!" both of the twins finished together.<p>

**Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?"  
><strong>  
>"HUFFLEPUFF!" the twins yelled, this time Molly II and Lucy joining in.<p>

**Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.**

**"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no?  
><strong>  
>"Yes, no!" Lucy said. "He has to be in Hufflepuff!"<p>

"Mm-hm," Molly II agreed.

**Well, if you're sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!"  
><strong>  
>"Yeah!" everyone yelled.<p>

"No!" Molly II, Lucy, and the twins yelled. Their parents rolled their eyes.

**Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"  
><strong>  
>"WE GOT POTTER! WE GOT POTTER!" Ron and George chanted at the same time. Their wives chuckled and rolled their eyes.<p>

**Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.**

**He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Harry spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.**

**And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table.**

**"Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now.  
><strong>  
>"Don't worry, Uncle Ron," Victoire said. "You will be fine!"<p>

**Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"  
><strong>  
>"We all saw it coming!" Louis said.<p>

**Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.  
><strong>  
><strong>"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.<br>**  
>"Alright, time for food," Ron said.<p>

**Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.  
><strong>  
>"That was, Uncle Harry," Dominique said. "Like, right before lunch."<p>

**Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.**

**"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!  
><strong>  
>All of the kids turned their heads to the side in confusion.<br>"That's Dumbledore's way," Percy said.

**"Thank you!"**

**He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.**

**"Is he — a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.**

"Totally," all of the adults said.

**"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"**

**Harry's mouth fell open.  
><strong>  
>"How could you not realize that there was food in front of you?" Rose asked.<p>

"Rose, you definitely have your father's appetite," Hermione said.

**The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.  
><strong>  
>"Oh, now I'm hungry," Hugo said.<p>

"Hugo, you just ate," Audrey said.

"Yeah, but that was a whole 30 minutes ago," Hugo whined.

**The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if It made him sick. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.**

**"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak.**

**"Can't you —?"**

**"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it.**

"See! That's what I mean!" Hugo exclaimed.

**I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."**

**"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you — you're Nearly Headless Nick!"**

"He doesn't like being called that," Charlie said.

"You're the one who told me that!" Rom exclaimed.

"I was wrong!" Charlie yelled.

**"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy —" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.**

**"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"  
><strong>  
>"Nobody should ask him that question!" Molly said. "It's disgusting!"<p>

**Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.**

**"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces,  
><strong>  
>Everyone shivered.<p>

**Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So — new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost."**

**Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood.  
><strong>  
>"Okay, that's disgusting," Angelina said.<p>

**He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.**

**"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.**

**"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.  
><strong>  
>Harry looked away awkwardly, because he did know.<p>

**When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding…**

"Uhh!" Hugo said. "Don't read anymore of the food words or I'm going to be starving!"

**As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart,  
><strong>  
>"I told you not to say that!" Hugo exclaimed.<p>

**the talk turned to their families.  
><strong>  
>"Okay, the Weasley family has too many kids and there is a riot every day. The end," George said.<p>

**"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."  
><strong>  
>"It had better be!" Audrey exclaimed.<p>

**The others laughed.**

**"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.**

**"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages.**

"Shouldn't he say Squib?" Molly said.

**My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me — he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned —  
><strong>  
>All of the girls gasped.<p>

**but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced — all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy.  
><strong>  
>"It would be weird if she didn't," Ginny said.<p>

**And you should have seen their faces when I got in here — they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."**

"You mean the one he kept loosing?" Louis said with a smirk.

**On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons  
><strong>  
>"Oh God," Hugo said.<p>

**("I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration,**

"I thought your favorite class was DADA," Rose said.

"It is," Hermione said.

"Then why did—"

"That was my second favorite," Hermione said quickly.

**you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult —"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing — ").**

**Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.  
><strong>  
>Lily and James burst out laughing.<p>

"What's so funny?" Albus asked.

"That's your second namesake," James said.

"And he sounds ugly!" Lily exclaimed. They started laughing again and Albus blushed.

**It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes — and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.**

"Voldemort," Harry murmured.

**"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.**

**"What is it?" asked Percy.**

**"N-nothing."**

**The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look — a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.  
><strong>  
>"No, he did not," George said.<p>

**"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.**

**"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape.**

"Snape, Snape, Severus Snape," Fred and Roxanne sang together.

"Where'd you hear that?" their mother asked.

"Some video a Muggle made on the, what's it called, Internet," Fred said.

**He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to — everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."  
><strong>  
><strong>Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.<strong>

At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

**"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."**

**Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.  
><strong>  
>George smiled.<p>

**"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.**

**"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.**

**"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."  
><strong>  
>"Ah, very cheerful," Arthur said, sarcastically.<p>

**Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did.**

**"He's not serious?"  
><strong>  
>"He kinda is, mate," Ron said.<p>

**he muttered to Percy.**

"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere — the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

**"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.  
><strong>  
>"They don't even like it," Molly said. "No one ever did."<br>**  
>Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.<strong>

**"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"**

**And the school bellowed:**

_**"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,  
><strong>_  
>"Hoggy Warty?" Louis asked. "What? Do hogs have warts or something?"<p>

_**Teach us something please,**_

_**Whether we be old and bald**_

_**Or young with scabby knees,**_

_**Our heads could do with filling**_

_**With some interesting stuff,**_

_**For now they're bare and full of air,**_

_**Dead flies and bits of fluff,**_

_**So teach us things worth knowing,**_

_**Bring back what we've forgot,**_

_**just do your best, we'll do the rest,**_

_**And learn until our brains all rot."**_

**Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.**

**"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!**"

"We're not horses!" Fred, Roxanne, and George yelled.

**The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries.**

"That's gotta be confusing," Teddy said.

**They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.**

**A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.  
><strong>  
>"Oh God, it's Peeves," Molly muttered.<p>

**"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves — show yourself."**

**A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.**

**"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"  
><strong>  
>"Yeah, bring out the Baron!" Molly II yelled.<p>

**There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.**

**"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"**

**He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.**

**"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.**

**Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.**

**"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."**

**At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.**

**"Password?" she said.**

**"**_**Caput Draconis**_**," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it — Neville needed a leg up — and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.  
><strong>  
>"Ah, the common room," Harry said. "So many memories."<p>

"Yeah," Hermione said. "Good and bad."

**Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase — they were obviously in one of the towers — they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.**

**"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."**

"Nice, Scabbers," Angelina said, sarcastically.

**Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once.**

**Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully — and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it — then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold — there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking.  
><strong>  
>"Is that like a vision of the future?" Hermione mumbled to Harry.<p>

Harry just shrugged.

**He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.  
><strong>  
>"And that's the end of the chapter," Ron said. "Ginny, you read next."<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I just wanted to take your time thanking everyone for the wonderful reviews. Thanks everyone and keep reviewing!**

**Also, here's the poll again:**

**Who do you want to show up in later chapters?**

**A) Neville, Luna, and their spouses**

**B) Draco and Scorpius**

**C) Seamus and Dean  
><strong>


	9. Chapter 9: The Potions Master

Chapter 9: The Potions Master

* * *

><p>After Ron handed Ginny the book, she read, "<strong>Chapter 8: The Potions Master<strong>."

"Oh God," George said. "That git has his own chapter!"

"George!" Angelina said, slapping his arm. "Don't be rude!"

"**There, look."**

**"Where?"**

**"Next to the tall kid with the red hair." **

"_Very_ nice description of Ron," Hermione said, sarcastically. Her husband who was Ron gave her a "really?" look, and she said, shyly, "Hi."

**"Wearing the glasses." **

**"Did you see his face?" **

**"Did you see his scar?"**

"Stupid gossips," Ginny muttered to herself.

**Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring.**

"Why do people always have to look at him?" Ginny asked, again, to herself.

**Harry wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to classes.**

**There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot.**

"That's probably because it did, Dad," Lily said.

**The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Harry was sure the coats of armor could walk.**

"They could, Harry," George said, remembering the incident during the Final Battle when McGonagall animated the suits of armor.

**The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class.**

"He was always nice to us," Fred and Roxanne said at the same time.

"Yes," Audrey said. "That's because you help him plan the pranks against the innocent first years!"

They both fake gasped. "We would never do a thing like that!"

"Oh yeah?" their mom asked. "What about the letter that Professor McGonagall sent home the first week of your second year that said, "_Dear Mrs. Weasley, your children, Frederick Ronald Weasley and Roxanne Alicia Weasley have been acting up with pranks. They helped Peeves the Poltergeist plan a prank against the newly Sorted first years, which included molasses and chicken feathers. Please note that they have received two weeks of detention._"

"How do you remember all that?" Roxanne asked.

"I have it right here," Angelina said, holding up a piece of parchment.

**He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose, and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"**

**Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch. Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning.**

"Impressive," Fred said. "But we beat you. It was during the Sorting."

"Yes, I remember that letter, too," Angelina said.

"Please don't say that you have that letter, also," Teddy asked.

**Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor.**

**He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.**

**Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later.**

**Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick.**

**And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.**

**They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for. Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.**

"Remember Emetic the Evil was evil," Rose said, "and he tried to kill thousands of Muggles. Uric the Oddball was basically an oddball and he dressed up in thousands of different wacky costumes and caused the uncontrollable laughter of many Muggles and wizards."

"Rose," Albus said. "Why would we need to know that now?"

"It's just a fun fact," Rose said.

"What was so fun about it?" Lucy asked.

**Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk.**

**At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.**

**Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.**

"Typical," Dominique said.

"**Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."**

"That sounds like something you would say before you see a really scary movie," Hugo said.

**Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time.**

**After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile.**

"That is rare," Victoire said. "But she did give Fred and Roxanne an evil smile right before she gave them detention."

**The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke.**

"How?" Molly II asked. "Earlier, I thought someone read from the book that Uncle George said that Quirrell's classes were awesome."

Everyone else shrugged.

**His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.**

**Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start.**

**Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.**

"Good job," Lily said sarcastically. "You made it down to eat. _Such _a great accomplishment."

"**What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.**

"**Double Potions with the Slytherins,"**

"Oh," Audrey said, "that was always bad. I always dreaded it."

"Who didn't?" Bill asked.

**said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them — we'll be able to see if it's true."**

"It is," most of the adults said.

"**Wish McGonagall favored us," said Harry.**

George chuckled. "That's never going to happen. Not in a million—no, a billion years, that it would ever happen."

**Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.**

"_Nothing_ ever stops McGonagall from giving us homework unless it's a miracle," Molly II said.

"Or unless there's a huge war going on," Charlie continued.

"But wouldn't that be classified under, 'miracle'?" Hugo asked.

"No," Rose said. "That would be classified under, 'bad things and we should probably fight for our lives.'"

**Just then, the mail arrived. Harry had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.**

**Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far.**

"Aw, that's sad," Ginny said. "Imagine not getting mail until the end of the first week. I mean, I got a letter on my first day of Hogwarts. Well, more like an add-on."

"Yeah, an add-on to my Howler," Ron said.

"Yeah, _thanks Mom_," Ginny said. "You made me embarrassed on the first day of school."

"Sorry," Molly mumbled.

**She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls.**

**This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate.**

**Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:**

_**Dear Harry,**_

_**I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three?**_

_**I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.**_

_**Hagrid**_

"Yeah!" Dominique exclaimed. "The first person to give Harry his letter is Hagrid. Good old Hagrid."

**Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled **_**Yes, please, see you later **_**on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.**

**It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.**

"Of course," Hermione said. "Everything that is bad starts out in Potions. That's just a weird coincidence."

"No!" George exclaimed. Then he put on his best Trelawney voice. "If the Fates have spoken it, it shall be."

"George, just let your sister continue," Arthur said.

**At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. Snape didn't dislike Harry — he **_**hated **_**him.**

"Hate is a strong word," Albus said.

"Yeah, but Snape _strongly_ hated us," Ron said.

**Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.**

**Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.**

"**Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new — **_**celebrity**_**."**

**Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.**

"**You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word — like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort.**

"Well yeah," Teddy said. "Because everyone was scared of him."

"**As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death **— **if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."**

"NOBODY IN HERE IS A DUNDERHEAD!" everyone yelled.

**More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.**

Hugo tried to hold in his laughter, but his mother saw him. "Hugo, it's not funny."

"It sounds pretty funny," Hugo said.

"**Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"**

"I know, I know, I know!" Rose exclaimed. "It's—"

"Rose, we know," Hermione said.

_**Powdered root of what to an infusion of what**_**? Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air.**

"**I don't know, sir," said Harry.**

**Snape's lips curled into a sneer.**

"**Tut, tut — fame clearly isn't everything."**

**He ignored Hermione's hand.**

"**Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"**

"I know, I know, I know!" Rose exclaimed again.

Hugo groaned. "Not again."

**Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter.**

"**I don't know, sir."**

"**Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"**

**Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes. He had looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did Snape expect him to remember everything in **_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi**_**?**

**Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.**

"**What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"**

Rose opened her mouth, but James interrupted her. "Let me guess: you know, you know, you know."

Rose gave him a long staredown.

**At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.**

"**I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"**

"Ooh, burn!" Fred and Roxanne exclaimed at the same time.

**A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased.**

"**Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"**

**There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."**

**Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like.**

**He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.**

"**Idiot boy!"**

"Harry is not an idiot!" Louis exclaimed. "He's just not that observant and smart."

**snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"**

**Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.**

"**Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.**

"**You — Potter — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills?**

"You can't blame Harry for something Neville did!" Teddy exclaimed. "Seamus should've done it."

**Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."**

**This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.**

"**Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty."**

**As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week** _**why **_**did Snape hate him so much?**

"**Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"**

**At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.**

**When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "**_**Back**_**, Fang —**_**back**_**."**

**Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.**

"**Hang on," he said. "**_**Back**_**, Fang."**

**He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.**

**There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.**

"**Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.**

"**This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.**

"**Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles.**

"Wow," Fred said. "That's exactly what Hagrid said to me and Roxy when we first met him. You can _really_ tell who's a Weasley nowadays."

"**I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."**

George's cheeks had a slight pink tinge to them.

**The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons.**

**Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled all over his robes.**

**Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch "that old git."**

"**An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her — Filch puts her up to it."**

**Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.**

"**But he seemed to really **_**hate **_**me."**

"**Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"**

**Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.**

"**How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot — great with animals."**

**Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose. While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the **_**Daily Prophet**_**:**

_**GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**_

_**Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.**_

"_**But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.**_

**Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.**

"**Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"**

**There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time. He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Harry read the story again. **_**The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. **_**Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?**

**As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Harry thought that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?**

"One word," Lucy said, "yes."

"Well, that's the end of the chapter," Ginny said. "Fleur, why don't you read next?" Ginny handed the book to her sister-in-law.

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><p><strong>AN: So, the poll is over. I've had a lot of votes, but I will include all of them in it! Yay! But they won't come until the next story, where they read the Chamber of Secrets. **

**So remember to review: the most important thing in the world!**


	10. Chapter 10: The Midnight Duel

Chapter 10: Chapter 9: The Midnight Duel

**A/N: OMG! I haven't updated in almost 2 months! *faints* Y'all probably thought I abandoned this story, but I haven't, don't worry! Now, here it is! **

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I don't own the bold, that belongs to J.K. Rowling in the book <strong>_**Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone**__. _**I don't own the characters either. If I did, Remus, Tonks, Fred, Hedwig, etc. would have never died. **

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><p>"Okay Fleur, why don't you read next?" Ginny asked, handing the book to her sister-in-law.<p>

"Thank you Ginny," Fleur said and read, "**Chapter 9: The Midnight Duel**."

Hermione glared at Ron. "I know what this chapter is about," she said. "It's about you two's _stupidity!_"

"Hey, hey, hey," Ron said. "Draco started it!"

"Daddy, you're sounding like Hugo," Rose said.

"I never act like that," Hugo protested.

"Well, what about that time on Saturday when-" Rose started.

"Okay, okay, we get it!" he exclaimed. "Auntie Fleur, continue."

**Harry had never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, **

"But that turned out to happen, didn't it, Harry?" Angelina asked.

**but that was before he met Draco Malfoy.**

"Of course," all of the adults said.

**Still, first-year Gryffindors only had Potions with the Slytherins, so they didn't have to put up with Malfoy much.**

"Lucky us," Ron murmured.

**Or at least, they didn't until they spotted a notice pinned up in the Gryffindor common room that made them all groan. Flying lessons would be starting on Thursday**

"Yay, flying!" James exclaimed. It was no surprise that James loved everything about flying and Quidditch. He has told his father many times that he wanted to play Chaser on his Quidditch when he goes to Hogwarts.

— **and Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together.**

"That's horrible!" Roxanne said. "Gryffindors and Slytherins are mortal enemies!"

"**Typical," said Harry darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."**

"You didn't make a fool of yourself, Harry," George said. "You made the Slytherins hate you even more."

**He had been looking forward to learning to fly more than anything else**

"SAME HERE!" James, Hugo, and Albus exclaimed.

"James and Al, you are both exactly like your father," Ginny said.

"And Hugo, you are like your's," Hermione said to her son.

"Is that good or bad?" Hugo asked, knowing some of the bad stories about Ron.

"Well, that is g-Wait, maybe it's ba-No . . . It depends on the way you look at it," Hermione said.

"**You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself," said Ron reasonably. "Anyway, I know Malfoy's always going on about how good he is at Quidditch, but I bet that's all talk."**

"I bet it totally is," Dominique said. "At Hogwarts, I've heard a _lot_ of stories about the Malfoys."

**Malfoy certainly did talk about flying a lot. He complained loudly about first years never getting on the house Quidditch teams**

Lily coughed, which sounded slightly like, "exception."

**and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters.**

Everyone laughed at that.

"Oh dear," Fred said, wiping away a fake tear. "That is too priceless."

**He wasn't the only one, though: the way Seamus Finnigan told it, he'd spent most of his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick. Even Ron would tell anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang glider on Charlie's old broom. **

Charlie turned slowly to look at Ron. "So _that's _what happened to my broomstick when you were 10. No wonder it was scuffed."

"Uh . . ." Ron said. "Sorry. Plus, George forced me!"

"How?" Charlie questioned.

"Well, he said that he'd give me two Galleons if I could ride your broomstick, and I took the bet," Ron explained.

Everyone heard George laugh. "Good times."

**Everyone from wizarding families talked about Quidditch constantly.**

Molly II let out a low whistle. "Wow, that must've been horrible for Harry and Hermione, knowing _nothing _about Quidditch."

"Well, I'm not really into sports," Hermione said, "so I didn't care, but I was nervous about flying."

**Ron had already had a big argument with Dean Thomas, who shared their dormitory, about soccer. Ron couldn't see what was exciting about a game with only one ball where no one was allowed to fly.**

"UNCLE RON!" Lucy exclaimed. "I love soccer! How can you say that? Plus, the sports on the ground is much easier to follow than when you are in the air."

"How?" all the Quidditch fanatics asked.

"Well, in Quidditch, if you fly upwards, the watchers can't see you, meanwhile, in soccer, you only have a certain amount of ground you can play on, so you don't have to strain your neck looking for a player," Lucy explained.

**Harry had caught Ron prodding Dean's poster of West Ham soccer team, trying to make the players move.**

"Oh my God!" Lucy exclaimed. "They're my favorite team! GO BEARS!"

**Neville had never been on a broomstick in his life, because his grandmother had never let him near one. Privately, Harry felt she'd had good reason, because Neville managed to have an extraordinary number of accidents even with both feet on the ground.**

"I never thought that," Harry said.

"We weren't saying that you did," Victoire said.

**Hermione Granger was almost as nervous about flying as Neville was. **

"Told you," Hermione said.

**This was something you couldn't learn by heart out of a book — not that she hadn't tried.**

Everyone laughed at that, and her daughter said, "That's the only time books can't help you."

**At breakfast on Thursday she bored them all stupid with flying tips she'd gotten out of a library book called **_**Quidditch Through the Ages**_**.**

"That's the only book I will read," Ron murmured.

"You should read more!" his daughter exclaimed. "Reading's important! Try to read more books like _Hogwarts: A History_, an amazing book! Did you know that Helga Hufflepuff built her common room near the kitchens because-"

"She made all of the meals at Hogwarts during her time," Harry and Ron finished.

"Th-that's right," Rose said, surprised. "How'd you know?"

"You don't know how many times your mother has told us facts from that book," Harry said.

**Neville was hanging on to her every word, desperate for anything that might help him hang onto his broomstick later, but everybody else was very pleased when Hermione's lecture was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.**

Fred, Roxanne, Molly II, and Louis made no attempt to hide their laughter. Their aunt glared at them, immediately shutting them up.

**Harry hadn't had a single letter since Hagrid's note, something that Malfoy had been quick to notice, of course. Malfoy's eagle owl was always bringing him packages of sweets from home, which he opened gloatingly at the Slytherin table. **

**A barn owl brought Neville a small package from his grandmother. He opened it excitedly and showed them a glass ball the size of a large marble, which seemed to be full of white smoke.**

Arthur gasped. "A Remembrall! Those things are very rare!"

"How?" Teddy asked. "If Neville got one, then it mustn't be _that_ rare."

"Well, if I remember correctly," Molly said, "his mother, Alice, had one when she was in school because she was always forgetting things."

"**It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things — this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red — oh…" His face fell, because the Remembrall had suddenly glowed scarlet, "… you've forgotten something…"**

"That's the only thing bad about it," Audrey said. "It doesn't tell you what you've forgotten. Stupid thing."

**Neville was trying to remember what he'd forgotten when Draco Malfoy, who was passing the Gryffindor table, snatched the Remembrall out of his hand.**

"That's mean!" Lily exclaimed. "You should always ask before."

"That's right, Lily," Fleur said.

"Wait, I'm not finished," Lily said. "And if they say no, just take it."

"I wonder where she gets that temper from?" George said, looking at Ginny.

**Harry and Ron jumped to their feet.**

"Harry Potter and his sidekick, Ron Weasley, to the rescue!" Fred and Roxanne exclaimed.

"Sidekick?" Ron questioned.

"I mean-" Fred stammered.

"His equally responsible hero, Ron!" Roxanne finished.

**They were half hoping for a reason to fight Malfoy, but Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, was there in a flash.**

"Maybe she Apparated," Louis said.

Hermione and Rose said at the same time, "There's no Apparating in and out of Hogwarts."

"Jeez, I was only suggesting," he murmured.

"**What's going on?" **

"**Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."**

**Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table. **

"**Just looking,"**

James snorted. "More like, 'looking to steal.'"

**he said, and he sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him. **

**At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindors hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.**

"Oh my goodness," Percy said. "That is truly beautiful writing!"

"I know, right?" Hermione said. "I can actually feel the gr-"

"I'm just going to continue reading," Fleur said.

**The Slytherins were already there, and so were twenty broomsticks lying in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George Weasley complain about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left.**

"Well, it _is_ true," George said. "One time Fred almost fell off of a school broom."

"Was it because he was acting like an idiot?" Angelina asked.

"Maybe."

**Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. **

"**Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." **

**Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles. **

"**Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'" **

"**UP" everyone shouted. **

**Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once,** **but it was one of the few that did**.

"Awesome, Dad!" James said.

**Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground**

Her son and husband snickered, which she replied with a death glare.

**and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry;**

"That's an interesting comparison, Harry," Audrey said. "I've never heard that before."

**there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.**

"Poor Neville," Fred said. "He'll never enjoy the experience of flying."

**Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.**

"I was right!" Dominique exclaimed. "I told you it was all talk!"

"**Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two —" **

**But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.**

"Was he okay?" Rose and Lily asked.

"It'll say later," Harry said.

"**Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle — twelve feet — twenty feet.**

Rose, who was also afraid of heights along with spiders, gasped and covered her eyes.

**Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and —**

Rose gave a shrill shriek, and everyone looked at her. "What?" she asked. "I'm scared of heights."

**WHAM**

Rose now crawled into her father's lap and asked, "Was he okay?"

"It'll s-" he started, but he was cut off.

"Don't tell me it says, you tell me now, Ronald Weasley!" Rose screamed, grabbing the front of her father's shirt.

"Wow, she's so much like Hermione, right?" Ron said to Harry. Rose had a serious look on her face, so he said, "He was fine, just a broken wrist, but Madam Pomfrey fixed it in a second."

"Okay, good," she said, sitting back on the ground.

— **a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap.**

"Hey, Rose, I think that sounded worse than a broken wrist," James said to her, and Rose playfully punched him on the shoulder.

**His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.**

**Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his. **

"**Broken wrist,"**

"I told you he was fine, Rosie," Ron said. Rose shrugged.

"Wait, he doesn't get a yelling at when he calls you Rosie, but I do?" James said.

"Yeah," Rose simply said.

"Why?"

"Because you're James."

**Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy — it's all right, up you get." **

**She turned to the rest of the class. **

"**None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing!**

"That's not going to happen," Victoire mumbled.

**You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."**

**Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him. **

**No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter.**

"That's _so _mean!" Lily exclaimed. "I want to punch something!"

All the kids backed away slightly from Lily. Her dad carefully handed her a pillow, and she punched it repeatedly.

"**Did you see his face, the great lump?"**

**The other Slytherins joined in. **

"**Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil. **

"**Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Never thought **_**you'd **_**like fat little crybabies, Parvati."**

"I've always hated Parkinson," Angelina mumbled.

"How'd you know her?" Hermione asked. "She was in our year."

"Yeah, but I knew that Malfoy ferret, and he was in your year," Angelina replied. "And you can't know Malfoy without knowing his posse. You know, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle."

"**Look!" said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."**

"It's a Remembrall, and it's not stupid," Audrey murmured.

**The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up. **

"**Give that here, Malfoy," said Harry quietly.**

Everyone grinned at the fact that Harry was standing up to that ferret.

**Everyone stopped talking to watch. **

**Malfoy smiled nastily. **

"**I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find — how about — up a tree?"**

"How's he supposed to get it, then?" Lily asked, behind. "He can't fly."

"Um, Lils," Harry said. "Malfoy meant that since it was up a tree, he couldn't find it, so that was the point."

"Oh!"

"**Give it **_**here**_**!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. He hadn't been lying, he **_**could **_**fly well. **

**Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!" **

**Harry grabbed his broom.**

"Uncle Harry! You shouldn't have done that!" Rose exclaimed. "You'd've gotten them all in trouble."

Hermione smiled, remembering that she said that to Harry.

"_**No!" **_**shouted Hermione Granger. "Madam Hooch told us not to move — you'll get us all into trouble."**

_Well, close enough, _Hermione thought.

**Harry ignored her. Blood was pounding in his ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared;**

"YAY!" all the Quidditch fanatics said while all the stick-in-the-muds stared at Harry.

**air rushed through his hair, and his robes whipped out behind him — and in a rush of fierce joy he realized he'd found something he could do without being taught — this was easy, this was **_**wonderful**_**.**

Everyone smiled at that.

**He pulled his broomstick up a little to take it even higher, and heard screams and gasps of girls back on the ground and an admiring whoop from Ron.**

Percy glared at Ron.

"What did I do?" Ron asked.

"You encouraged him," he said.

"Well, if I didn't whoop for him, he wouldn't be on the Quidditch team, and Penelope would've won your bet," Ron replied.

"Penelope? Who's Penelope?" Audrey asked.

"No one, honey," Percy said. "I love you."

"Mm-hm. I'll talk you later," Audrey said threateningly.

**He turned his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in midair. Malfoy looked stunned. **

"**Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!" **

"**Oh, yeah?" said Malfoy, trying to sneer, but looking worried. **

**Harry knew, somehow, what to do. He leaned forward and grasped the broom tightly in both hands, and it shot toward Malfoy like a javelin.**

"DAD!" Lily screeched. "You could've gotten hurt! You weren't professionally trained!"

**Malfoy only just got out of the way in time; Harry made a sharp about-face and held the broom steady. A few people below were clapping.**

"**No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called. **

**The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy**

"What a coward," Bill said.

"**Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground.**

"YES! There goes his Seeker skills!" James exclaimed.

**Harry saw, as though in slow motion, the ball rise up in the air and then start to fall. He leaned forward and pointed his broom handle down — next second he was gathering speed in a steep dive, racing the ball — wind whistled in his ears, mingled with the screams of people watching — he stretched out his hand — a foot from the ground he caught it, just in time to pull his broom straight, and he toppled gently onto the grass with the Remembrall clutched safely in his fist.**

All the kids exclaimed, "YAY!"

"**HARRY POTTER!"**

When Fleur read that, she screamed very loudly.

"Fleur, I didn't know you have that kind of lungs," Angelina said.

"I knew," Victoire said. "You should hear her when I don't clean my room."

**His heart sank faster than he'd just dived. Professor McGonagall was running toward them. **

**He got to his feet, trembling.**

"_**Never **_— **in all my time at Hogwarts —" **

**Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "— how **_**dare **_**you — might have broken your neck —" **

"That's what I said," Lily murmured.

"**It wasn't his fault, Professor —" **

"**Be quiet, Miss Patil —" **

"**But Malfoy —" **

"**That's **_**enough**_**, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now." **

**Harry caught sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's triumphant faces as he left, walking numbly in Professor McGonagall's wake as she strode toward the castle. He was going to be expelled, he just knew it.**

_McGonagall has a slight soft spot for Quidditch players_, Teddy thought.

**He wanted to say something to defend himself, but there seemed to be something wrong with his voice. Professor McGonagall was sweeping along without even looking at him; he had to jog to keep up. Now he'd done it. He hadn't even lasted two weeks. He'd be packing his bags in ten minutes. What would the Dursleys say when he turned up on the doorstep?**

"Hm, how about, 'Why are you here?'?" Roxanne said.

**Up the front steps, up the marble staircase inside, and still Professor McGonagall didn't say a word to him. **

**She wrenched open doors and marched along corridors with Harry trotting miserably behind her. Maybe she was taking him to Dumbledore. He thought of Hagrid, expelled but allowed to stay on as gamekeeper. Perhaps he could be Hagrid's assistant. His stomach twisted as he imagined it, watching Ron and the others becoming wizards, while he stumped around the grounds carrying Hagrid's bag.**

Fleur put a hand over her heart. "That is _so_ sad!"

**Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom. She opened the door and poked her head inside. **

"**Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?" **

**Wood? thought Harry, bewildered; was Wood a cane she was going to use on him?**

All the adults snickered.

Victoire said, "Isn't that Alicia Wood's father?"

**But Wood turned out to be a person,**

"OH THANK THE HEAVENS!" Fred exclaimed.

**a burly fifth-year boy who came out of Flitwick's class looking confused. **

"**Follow me, you two," said Professor McGonagall, and they marched on up the corridor, Wood looking curiously at Harry. **

"**In here." **

**Professor McGonagall pointed them into a classroom that was empty except for Peeves, who was busy writing rude words on the blackboard.**

"Oh! I think he taught us some of those," Roxanne said. "Like s-" But before she could finish, her mother quickly covered up her mouth.

"**Out, Peeves!" she barked. Peeves threw the chalk into a bin, which clanged loudly, and he swooped out cursing. Professor McGonagall slammed the door behind him and turned to face the two boys. **

"**Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood — I've found you a Seeker."**

All the Quidditch fanatics grinned ear to ear.

**Wood's expression changed from puzzlement to delight. **

"**Are you serious, Professor?"**

"No, I'm Sirius," James said, talking about his middle name.

Everyone groaned.

"**Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "The boy's a natural. I've never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?" **

**Harry nodded silently. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he didn't seem to be being expelled, and some of the feeling started coming back to his legs. **

"**He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."**

"That's harsh," Charlie said, crossing his arm and pouting.

**Wood was now looking as though all his dreams had come true at once. **

"**Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" he asked excitedly. **

"**Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Professor McGonagall explained. **

"**He's just the build for a Seeker, too," said Wood, now walking around Harry and staring at him. "Light —speedy — we'll have to get him a decent broom, Professor — a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."**

"Don't get either," Fred said. "Get a Nimbus 3000 or a Cleansweep 17!"

"Well, they didn't have that back then," Ron said.

"**I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can't bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. **_**Flattened **_**in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn't look Severus Snape in the face for weeks…"**

**Professor McGonagall peered sternly over her glasses at Harry. **

"**I want to hear you're training hard, Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you." **

**Then she suddenly smiled. **

"Why'd she smile?" Lily asked, confused.

"She has a slight soft spot for Quidditch players," Teddy explained.

"**Your father would have been proud," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."**

"**You're **_**joking**_**."**

**It was dinnertime. Harry had just finished telling Ron what had happened when he'd left the grounds with Professor McGonagall. Ron had a piece of steak and kidney pie halfway to his mouth, but he'd forgotten all about it.**

George gasped. "Oh my God, that's the first time ever since Mum introduced him to peas. But even after a while, he ate that too."

Hermione snickered, and Ron glared at her along with George.

"_**Seeker**_**?" he said. "But first years **_**never **_— **you must be the youngest house player in about —" **

" — **a century,"**

"Wow," all the younger kids said.

"**I start training next week," said Harry. "Only don't tell anyone, Wood wants to keep it a secret." **

**Fred and George Weasley now came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over. **

"**Well done," said George in a low voice. "Wood told us. We're on the team too — Beaters."**

"Well, he mustn't want it to keep it _that_ much of a secret," Dominique said.

"**I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."**

Everyone laughed, but George laughed the hardest. "I almost forgot about that," he said.

"**Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school." **

"**Bet it's that one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."**

"Dad, why didn't you tell us anything about those?" Fred and Roxanne said at the same time.

"Well, I would've told you, but the warden," George said, pointing to Angelina, "wouldn't let me."

**Fred and George had hardly disappeared when someone far less welcome turned up: Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. **

"**Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"**

"Mum, can I go hunt him down and beat him up?" Lily asked.

"No," Ginny said.

"But-" Lily started.

"I said _no_!" Ginny exclaimed.

"**You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly. There was of course nothing at all little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers, neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.**

"**I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only — no contact.**

Lily was mumbling about how _she_ would use contact.

**What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?" **

"**Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling around. "I'm his second, who's yours?" **

**Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. **

"**Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked." **

**When Malfoy had gone, Ron and Harry looked at each other. **

"**What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what do you mean, you're my second?" **

"**Well, a second's there to take over if you die," said Ron casually, getting started at last on his cold pie.**

"That's _very_ comforting, Ron," Hermione said.

**Catching the look on Harry's face, he added quickly, "But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy'll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway."**

"That's better," Hermione said.

"**And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?" **

"**Throw it away and punch him on the nose," Ron suggested.**

"DAD!" Rose screeched. "He said no contact."

"But when have we ever listened to Malfoy?" Ron said.

"**Excuse me." They both looked up. It was Hermione Granger. **

"Enter Aunt Hermione," Lucy said. "The more nagging one."

"**Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" said Ron. **

"Seriously, people always interrupt me when I'm eating," Ron exclaimed.

**Hermione ignored him and spoke to Harry. **

"**I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying —" **

"**Bet you could," Ron muttered.**

"Nice one, Uncle Ron," Molly II said.

Meanwhile, Hermione smacked Ron.

"What? I was _eleven_ then," he said.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't have said it anyways," Hermione said.

"— **and you **_**mustn't **_**go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you." **

"**And it's really none of your business," said Harry. **

"**Good-bye," said Ron. **

Hermione smacked Ron again. "And you shouldn't have done _that _either."

**All the same, it wasn't what you'd call the perfect end to the day, Harry thought, as he lay awake much later listening to Dean and Seamus falling asleep (Neville wasn't back from the hospital wing). Ron had spent all evening giving him advice such as "If he tries to curse you, you'd better dodge it, because I can't remember how to block them."**

"Dad, you are just full of good advice," Hugo said sarcastically.

**There was a very good chance they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs. Norris, and Harry felt he was pushing his luck, breaking another school rule today. On the other hand, Malfoy's sneering face kept looming up out of the darkness — this was his big chance to beat Malfoy face-to-face. He couldn't miss it.**

"Of course you couldn't, Dad," Albus said.

"**Half-past eleven," Ron muttered at last, "we'd better go." **

**They pulled on their bathrobes, picked up their wands, and crept across the tower room, down the spiral staircase, and into the Gryffindor common room. A few embers were still glowing in the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest them, "I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry." **

**A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown. **

"_**You!**_" **said Ron furiously.**

"Yes, that's very nice, Ronald," Hermione said with a frown.

**"Go back to bed!" **

"**I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped, "Percy — he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this." **

**Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering.**

Now, Hermione reached over the couch to smack Harry's head.

"**Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole. **

**Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily.**

"Of course she won't," Molly II said. "I know her that well."

**She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose. **

"**Don't you **_**care **_**about Gryffindor, do you **_**only **_**care about yourselves, **_**I **_**don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."**

Almost everyone shook their heads.

"**Go away." **

"**All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so —" **

**But what they were, they didn't find out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside and found herself facing an empty painting. The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor tower.**

"Oh, that's horrible," Molly said.

"**Now what am I going to do?" she asked shrilly. **

"**That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late." **

That made Hermione smack Ron again.

"You know, I might lose brain cells because of this," Ron said.

**They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when Hermione caught up with them. **

"**I'm coming with you," she said. **

"**You are **_**not**_**." **

"**D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you, and you can back me up." **

"**You've got some nerve —" said Ron loudly. **

"**Shut up, both of you!" said Harry sharply. "I heard something." **

**It was a sort of snuffling. **

"**Mrs. Norris?" breathed Ron, squinting through the dark. **

**It wasn't Mrs. Norris. **

**It was Neville. He was curled up on the floor, fast asleep, but jerked suddenly awake as they crept nearer. **

"**Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get in to bed."**

"Aw, poor Neville," Lily said.

"**Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig snout' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone off somewhere." **

"**How's your arm?" said Harry.**

"**Fine," said Neville, showing them. "Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute." **

"**Good — well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later —" **

"**Don't leave me!" said Neville, scrambling to his feet, "I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already."**

"Yeah, I think he's the only thing that scares us at Hogwarts," Roxanne said, talking about her and Fred.

**Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville. **

"**If either of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you." **

**Hermione opened her mouth, perhaps to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of the Bogies, but Harry hissed at her to be quiet and beckoned them all forward. **

Everyone burst out laughing at that.

"Were you going to, Aunt Hermione?" Dominique said.

Hermione stayed silent.

**They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn Harry expected to run into Filch or Mrs. Norris, but they were lucky.**

**They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tiptoed toward the trophy room. **

**Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet. **

**The crystal trophy cases glimmered where the moonlight caught them. Cups, shields, plates, and statues winked silver and gold in the darkness. They edged along the walls, keeping their eyes on the doors at either end of the room. Harry took out his wand in case Malfoy leapt in and started at once.**

**The minutes crept by. **

"**He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered. **

**Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak — and it wasn't Malfoy. **

"**Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."**

Rose gaped. "That lying little weasel!"

"Actually, he's a ferret," Harry said.

**It was Filch speaking to Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved madly at the other three to follow him as quickly as possible; they scurried silently toward the door, away from Filch's voice. Neville's robes had barely whipped round the corner when they heard Filch enter the trophy room. **

"**They're in here somewhere," they heard him mutter, "probably hiding."**

"**This way!" Harry mouthed to the others and, petrified, they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armor. They could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run he tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist, and the pair of them toppled right into a suit of armor. The clanging and crashing were enough to wake the whole castle.**

"**RUN!" Harry yelled, and the four of them sprinted down the gallery, not looking back to see whether Filch was following — they swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor then another, Harry in the lead, without any idea where they were or where they were going — they ripped through a tapestry and found themselves in a hidden passageway, hurtled along it and came out near their Charms classroom, which they knew was miles from the trophy room.**

Victoire said, "Is anyone else's heart pounding?"

A few of the kids raised their hands.

"**I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering. **

"**I —**_**told **_— **you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I — told — you."**

"Hermione, now that I think about it, that wasn't the right time to tell us you told us so," Harry said.

"**We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible." **

"**Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you — Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off." **

**Harry thought she was probably right, but he wasn't going to tell her that.**

"Well, you should have," Hermione said smugly.

"**Let's go." **

**It wasn't going to be that simple. They hadn't gone more than a dozen paces when a doorknob rattled and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them. **

**It was Peeves.**

"GO PEEVES! GO, GO, GO PEEVES!" Fred and Roxanne exclaimed. "G-" they started but stopped when they saw their mother's face.

**He caught sight of them and gave a squeal of delight. **

"**Shut up, Peeves — please — you'll get us thrown out."**

**Peeves cackled. **

"**Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."**

"That was a horrible rhyme," Ginny said.

"**Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please." **

"**Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know." **

"**Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves. This was a big mistake. **

"**STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"**

"Ron, really?" Bill asked.

"What? I was eleven!" Ron exclaimed.

**Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door — and it was locked. **

"**This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!"**

"Why are you so dramatic?" Fleur asked. "And I thought _I _was dramatic!"

**They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts. **

"**Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. **

**She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, "**_**Alohomora**_**!" **

"Hermione, you have always been helpful," Ron said with a puppy dog face.

"Stop sucking up, Ronald," Hermione replied, slapping his chest playfully.

**The lock clicked and the door swung open — they piled through it, shut it quickly, and pressed their ears against it, listening.**

"**Which way did they go, Peeves?" Filch was saying. "Quick, tell me." **

"**Say 'please.'" **

"**Don't mess with me, Peeves, now **_**where did they go**_**?" **

"**Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves in his annoying singsong voice. **

"**All right —**_**please**_**." **

"**NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!"**

"Oh, that's a good one," Molly II said. "I need to write that down."

"Already done," Fred and Roxanne said.

**And they heard the sound of Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage. **

"**He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered. "I think we'll be okay — get **_**off**_**, Neville!" **

**For Neville had been tugging on the sleeve of Harry's bathrobe for the last minute. "**_**What**_**?" **

**Harry turned around — and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure he'd walked into a nightmare — this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far. **

**They weren't in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.**

"What is it, what is it?" most of the kids exclaimed.

**They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.**

"Oh my God! I've heard of those things!" Rose exclaimed. "That's like Cerberus from Greek mythology!"

"Rose, we _seriously_ don't need any of your useless comments," Hugo said.

**It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harry knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant. **

**Harry groped for the doorknob — between Filch and death, he'd take Filch.**

"Great choice," Charlie said.

**They fell backward — Harry slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared — all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor. **

"**Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at their bathrobes hanging off their shoulders and their flushed, sweaty faces.**

"Oh, just at the Transfiguration room," Dominique said sarcastically. "Or at the out-of-bounds third corridor. No big deal."

"**Never mind that — pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs. **

**It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again.**

"**What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."**

Quite a few people had to bite down on their tongue because of the seriousness of the moment.

**Hermione had got both her breath and her bad temper back again. "You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" she snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?" **

"**The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads." **

"Mum, how could you look at its feet, even I wouldn't!" Rose exclaimed.

"Well, _sorry_ if I'm observant!" Hermione said sarcastically.

"**No, **_**not **_**the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."**

**She stood up, glaring at them. **

"**I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled.**

Everyone burst out laughing except Hermione.

"What? That _is _bad!" Hermione protested.

"But not _that_ bad!" Percy said.

"Wow, Percy, I can't believe you said that," Teddy said.

**Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."**

**Ron stared after her, his mouth open. **

"**No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you."**

Some people chuckled there too.

**But Hermione had given Harry something else to think about as he climbed back into bed. The dog was guarding something… What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide — except perhaps Hogwarts. **

**It looked as though Harry had found out where the grubby little package from vault seven hundred and thirteen was.**

"Dun, dun, dun!" most of the kids said.

"So, Audrey, do you want to read next?" Fleur asked.

"Sure," Audrey said, and she grabbed the book.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Again, I am **_**so**_** sorry! But school has been slightly rough, and, if you've read my other stories, you know I've been working on that. So, yeah, REVIEW! And remember, from last chapter, everyone from the poll will be in this series, but not until next story!**

**~Read-a-holic2200**


	11. Chapter 11: Halloween

Chapter 11: Chapter 10: Halloween

**A/N: Yes, I know, it's been over a month! SHE LEFT US! NO! Psyche! I am still working on it! Thanks to all my loyal readers. **

* * *

><p>Audrey grabbed the book and read, "<strong>Chapter 10: Halloween<strong>."

"Did Dad tell us about this?" Rose asked her brother.

"No, this is his first year," Hugo replied. "He told us about the one in his second year when he went to the deathday party, and he had no food."

"That must have been terrible," Rose said seriously.

"Yeah, _terrible_," Roxanne said sarcastically.

**Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. **

**Indeed, by the next morning Harry and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one**

"Let's not and say we did," Hermione said.

"More like let's do it, and the whole world will know it," Harry said.

**In the meantime, Harry filled Ron in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection. **

"The only time you study was before we were friends?" Hermione said. "Oh, that's cruel!"

"**It's either really valuable or really dangerous," said Ron.**

"**Or both," said Harry.**

"It's both," Rose replied.

"And how do you know that, Rosie?" James asked.

"Well from observation I found out that the book is called, 'Sorcerer's Stone,' and I did some research about it. To save some time, the Sorcerer's Stone is valuable and dangerous," Rose replied.

"That's my girl," Hermione said.

**But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues. **

**Neither Neville nor Hermione showed the slightest interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor. **

**All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again. **

"Well, some people have common sense," Audrey said.

**Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harry and Ron, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus. **

"Well, now I feel all warm and cozy inside, don't I?" Hermione said sarcastically.

**All they really wanted now was a way of getting back at Malfoy, and to their great delight, just such a thing arrived in the mail about a week later. **

"Is it one of Dad's Skiving Snackboxes?" Fred asked. "You could have slipped him one of the Puking Pastilles in his breakfast."

"Sadly, your father didn't invent those yet," Harry said. He then whispered to Ron, "Although that would have been nice."

**As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. Harry was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of him, knocking his bacon to the floor. **

**They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel. **

**Harry ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because it said: **

_**DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE. **_

_**It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, **_

All the Quidditch fanatics which were James, Albus, Fred, Roxanne, Louis, Dominique, Angelina, George, and Ginny, all said something along the lines of, "Yeah, new broom!"

_**but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session. **_

_**Professor McGonagall **_

"Wait, MCGONAGALL got it for you!" Fred and Roxanne said in shock.

"She would never give _me _a broom!" Fred said. "Even if I personally _asked_ for detention." Then he said in an undertone, "Trust me, I've tried."

**Harry had difficulty hiding his glee as he handed the note to Ron to read. **

"**A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even **_**touched **_**one." **

"Nice to try to keep it silent that we're poor, Ron," Ginny murmured to her brother.

**They left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first class, but halfway across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy seized the package from Harry and felt it.**

"**That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them." **

"YES THEY _ARE!_" Fred and Roxanne sang.

"Well, only this first year," Dominique added.

**Ron couldn't resist it. **

"**It's not any old broomstick," he said, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" **

"Good one, Uncle Ron!" Louis said, and he high-fived his uncle.

"How is that a good one?" Victoire asked.

"You have to be a Quidditch fan to understand," he said.

**Ron grinned at Harry. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus." **

"**What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig." **

Everyone started going into a rage as they were all part of the Weasley clan in some way. The people that were the most angry were Ginny and Molly.

**Before Ron could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow. **

"**Not arguing, I hope, boys?" he squeaked. **

"**Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoy quickly. **

"**Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?" **

"**A Nimbus Two Thousand, it is," said Harry, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoy's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it," he added.**

All of the kids laughed.

"That's a good one, Uncle Harry," Molly II said.

**Harry and Ron headed upstairs, smothering their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion. **

"**Well, it's true," Harry chortled as they reached the top of the marble staircase, "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be on the team…" **

"**So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" came an angry voice from just behind them. **

"Three guesses who," all of the adults said.

"Is it Snape?" Teddy asked.

"It's someone in this room," Charlie said.

"Dad?" Fred asked.

"It's a girl," Ginny said. "And it's not me."

"Mum?" Lucy suggested.

"My mum?" Roxanne added.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, IT'S ME!" Hermione yelled.

**Hermione was stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at the package in Harry's hand. **

"**I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry. **

"**Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good." **

Hermione slapped Ron.

"OW!" he exclaimed. "That was in first year before I knew the real you!"

"Okay, that's better," Hermione replied.

**Hermione marched away with her nose in the air. **

**Harry had a lot of trouble keeping his mind on his lessons that day. It kept wandering up to the dormitory where his new broomstick was lying under his bed, or straying off to the Quidditch field where he'd be learning to play that night. **

**He bolted his dinner that evening without noticing what he was eating, and then rushed upstairs with Ron to unwrap the Nimbus Two Thousand at last. **

"**Wow," Ron sighed, as the broomstick rolled onto Harry's bedspread. **

**Even Harry, who knew nothing about the different brooms, thought it looked wonderful. Sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, it had a long tail of neat, straight twigs and Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold near the top. **

"That's not as good as the Nimbus Three Thousand," James said.

"But it was as good as the Nimbus Three Thousand in our time," Charlie said.

**As seven o'clock drew nearer, Harry left the castle and set off in the dusk toward the Quidditch field. Held never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the field so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the field were three golden poles with hoops on the end. They reminded Harry of the little plastic sticks Muggle children blew bubbles through, except that they were fifty feet high. **

Almost everyone looked confused, and then they looked at Hermione.

"Fine," she said. "Everyone knows what a bubble is, right?" Everyone nodded. "Well, the Quidditch hoops are like the things you use to blow bubbles, except they're smaller. When they blow a bubble, children take the bubble blower and put it in a bubble mixture. Then they blow, and a bubble comes out."

Everyone looked slightly less confused.

**Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, Harry mounted his broomstick and kicked off from the ground. What a feeling — he swooped in and out of the goal posts and then sped up and down the field. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever he wanted at his lightest touch. **

"**Hey, Potter, come down!" **

**Oliver Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate under his arm. Harry landed next to him. **

"**Very nice," said Wood, his eyes glinting. "I see what McGonagall meant… you really are a natural. I'm just going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practice three times a week."**

**He opened the crate. Inside were four different-sized balls. **

"**Right," said Wood. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers." **

"I'm a Chaser!" James said.

"Me too!" Victoire said.

"Same!" Lucy said.

"Lucy, you aren't a Chaser," Percy said. "And neither are you, James."

"Well, I _want to _be a Chaser, and whenever we play Weasley Quidditch, I always play Chaser," Lucy said.

"Same, and when I go to Hogwarts, I want to be a Chaser," James replied.

"**Three Chasers," Harry repeated, as Wood took out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball. **

"What's a soccer ball?" Louis asked.

"It's kind of like a Quaffle," Lucy replied.

"**This ball's called the Quaffle," said Wood. "The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?" **

"**The Chasers throw the Quaffle and put it through the hoops to score," Harry recited. "So — that's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it?" **

"What's basketball?" Dominique asked.

"Too complicated," Harry replied.

"**What's basketball?" said Wood curiously. **

"Aw, you and Wood have something in common!" Victoire joked.

"**Never mind," said Harry quickly. **

"**Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper — I'm Keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring." **

"I was a Keeper!" Ron said.

"I want to be a Keeper, too," Rose and Hugo said at the same time. Then they got in an argument. Audrey just kept reading.

"**Three Chasers, one Keeper," said Harry, who was determined to remember it all. "And they play with the Quaffle. Okay, got that. So what are they for?" He pointed at the three balls left inside the box. **

"**I'll show you now," said Wood. "Take this." **

**He handed Harry a small club, a bit like a short baseball bat. **

"Oh, Beaters' Bats!" Fred exclaimed. "I'm trying out for Gryffindor Beater next year!"

"So am I!" Roxanne exclaimed.

"I am _so_ going to get in!" Fred said. Then they got in an argument. Again, Audrey kept reading.

"**I'm going to show you what the Bludgers do," Wood said. "These two are the Bludgers."**

**He showed Harry two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box.**

"**Stand back," Wood warned Harry. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers. **

**At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Harry's face. Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it from breaking his nose, and sent it zigzagging away into the air — it zoomed around their heads and then shot at Wood, who dived on top of it and managed to pin it to the ground. **

"**See?" Wood panted, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. "The Bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters **

"ME!" Fred and Roxanne said at the same time.

"You aren't Beaters yet," Angelina said.

"BUT WE WILL BE!" they yelled.

**on each team — the Weasley twins are ours — it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them toward the other team. So — think you've got all that?" **

"**Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goal posts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team," Harry reeled off. **

"**Very good," said Wood. **

"**Er — have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?" Harry asked, hoping he sounded offhand.**

"No," George replied. "Although the Slytherin Beaters tried to kill me once."

"**Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws but nothing worse than that. Now, the last member of the team is the Seeker. That's you. And you don't have to worry about the Quaffle or the Bludgers —" **

"— **unless they crack my head open." **

"Has that ever happened?" Molly asked, like the overprotective mother she is.

"No," Harry replied. Then he thought for a second. "Yeah, no."

"**Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers — I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves." **

"Aw, thanks Wood, I didn't know you felt that way about us," George said.

**Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings. **

"_**This**_**," said Wood, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see. It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers, and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. **

"I'm going to be a Seeker!" Lily exclaimed. "I have the whole build for it and everything!"

"That's my girl," Harry replied.

**That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages — I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep. **

"**Well, that's it any questions?" **

**Harry shook his head. He understood what he had to do all right, it was doing it that was going to be the problem. **

"**We won't practice with the Snitch yet," said Wood, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try you out with a few of these." **

**He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, he and Harry were up in the air, Wood throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch. **

**Harry didn't miss a single one,**

Everyone clapped for the best Seeker Hogwarts has seen ever since his father's days at Hogwarts.

**and Wood was delighted. After half an hour, night had really fallen and they couldn't carry on. **

"**That Quidditch Cup'll have our name on it this year," said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons." **

"Hey!" Charlie yelled. "It's a legitimate career!"

**Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realized that he'd already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle felt more like home than Privet Drive ever had. **

"Aw!" all the girls said while all the boys smiled.

**His lessons, too, were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.**

**On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom.**

"I remember that!" Hermione said. "Trevor landed on my head."

"And we were laughing so hard that we cried," Ron said to Harry.

**Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan (which was a relief, because Neville had been trying to catch his eye). **

**Ron, however, was to be working with Hermione Granger. **

"And _that_'_s _a bad thing?" Rose said. "I swear, if I were in your time at Hogwarts, I would have killed for you two to pair up. I hate that you didn't become friends even now after 10 chapters!"

"Rosie, if you feel so strongly about this, you'll probably have to sit out in the sixth book," Ron said.

"Why?" she asked, being the curious know-it-all.

"Relationship problems," Ron and Hermione said awkwardly.

**It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this. **

"AW, C'MON!" Rose yelled. "I can be a matchmaker in Hogwarts. 'Rose's Magical Matchmaking,' That's good."

**She hadn't spoken to either of them since the day Harry's broomstick had arrived.**

"**Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor** **Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too — never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."**

**It was very difficult. **

**Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop. Seamus got so impatient that he prodded it with his wand and set fire to it — Harry had to put it out with his hat.**

**Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck.**

"**Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.**

"**You're saying it wrong," Harry heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."**

"Good job, Mum," Rose said. "At least you're trying to make peace."

"Actually, he was about to hit me, and I wanted to correct him," Hermione said.

"Well, I'm still counting it!" Rose said.

"**You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.**

**Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"**

**Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.**

"**Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"**

"Yay, Mum!" Hugo said.

**Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class.**

"**It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."**

**Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him.**

"Oh no," Rose said. She looked behind her to see her mother crying. "Mum, what's wrong?"

"It's just the memory, and how my _feelings were hurt by that, Ronald Weasley_!" Hermione yelled.

"Hey, I apologized once we got together," Ron said. "I apologized about everything."

"AWWW!" Rose said.

**It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face — and was startled to see that she was in tears.**

"**I think she heard you."**

"Yes I did," Hermione said, still crying. Ron comforted her, and Rose, "aww"ed.

"**So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."**

Both Ron's wife and daughter slapped him.

"I thought you heard me?" Ron asked Hermione.

"But not that part!" she screeched.

**Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry and Ron overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of their minds.**

"Aww!" Rose said. "Mum, you were crying in the bathroom? That's so sad."

"Yeah, it is," Lily and Molly II replied.

**A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.**

**Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know."**

"WHAT?" almost everyone yelled.

"A troll?" Fred and Roxanne said. "Cool! Why didn't we think of that?"

**He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.**

**There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.**

"**Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"**

**Percy was in his element.**

"Of course he was," Lucy said.

"Hey!" her father yelled. "I was just in the moment."

"**Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"**

"**How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.**

"**Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Ron. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."**

"He didn't," Roxanne said. "He would've told us."

**They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.**

"**I've just thought — Hermione."**

"Great!" Rose said sarcastically. "Harry remembers Hermione but not you, Dad!"

"**What about her?"**

"**She doesn't know about the troll."**

**Ron bit his lip.**

"**Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."**

"Finally, you have some common sense," Rose yelled.

**Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.**

"**Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin.**

**Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.**

"What would Snape be up to?" Bill asked.

"**What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"**

"**Search me."**

**Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.**

"**He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Ron held up his hand.**

"He's getting the Stone!" Teddy yelled.

"**Can you smell something?"**

**Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.**

**And then they heard it — a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed — at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.**

**It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.**

"Ew," everyone said.

**The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.**

"**The keys in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."**

Everyone shouted, "NO!"

"**Good idea," said Ron nervously.**

"NO!" everyone shouted again.

**They edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it.**

"**Yes!"**

**Flushed with their victory, they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop — a high, petrified scream — and it was coming from the chamber they'd just chained up.**

"**Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.**

"**It's the girls' bathroom!" Harry gasped.**

"Oh God, I can't believe you didn't see the big sign that said, 'Women,'" Fleur said.

"**Hermione!" they said together.**

"Well, at least you have _some_ sense," Lily said.

**It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have? **

**Wheeling around, they sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic. Harry pulled the door open and they ran inside.**

**Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went. **

"**Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.**

**The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.**

"**Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.**

"Aw, Dad, that's so brave of you to throw a metal pipe to save your future wife," Rose said with a hand over her heart.

"I thought that I needed to save someone, so I did it," Ron replied. "At the time, I didn't do it because I liked her."

"But it's still sweet," Lily said.

"**Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.**

**The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.**

**Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: **

"Harry, that is the true traits of a Gryffindor," Arthur said.

**He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped – it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.**

"EW!" everyone said.

"It _was_ pretty disgusting," Harry said.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew, EW!" Victoire said being the girly girl.

"Aw, is little Vic gotten a little freaked out because of the troll boogers?" Teddy asked in a mocking tone.

"Shut _up_, Teddy," Victoire said, shoving him.

"Ow," he said. "For a girl, you do have a strong shove."

**Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.**

**Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand — not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "Wingardium Leviosa!"**

"Aw!" Rose and Lily both said.

"You're saving a 'damsel in distress,'" Lily said.

"And now, 'Wingardium Leviosa,' is your spell," Rose finished.

"Aw!" they said together.

"Okay, how about I make it '_The Flower Blooms Matchmaking_,' You know because we both have flower names," Rose said.

"That's good," Lily said.

**The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over — and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.**

**Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done.**

"He's the knight in shining armor," Rose said.

"When did my daughter become so into love?" Ron asked out loud.

"Ever since I heard your love story," she replied.

**It was Hermione who spoke first.**

"**Is it — dead?"**

"**I don't think so," said Harry, "I think it's just been knocked out."**

**He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.**

"**Urgh — troll boogers."**

"EW!" Victoire yelled.

**He wiped it on the troll's trousers.**

**A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. They hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.**

**Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Harry had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. **

**Hopes of winning fifty points for Gryffindor faded quickly from Harry's mind.**

"**What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"**

"They were saving a damsel!" Rose and Lily yelled.

**Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look. Harry looked at the floor. He wished Ron would put his wand down.**

"Sorry," Ron mumbled.

**Then a small voice came out of the shadows.**

"**Please, Professor McGonagall — they were looking for me."**

"**Miss Granger!"**

Everyone gasped and looked at Hermione.

"And that's why I'm a Gryffindor," Hermione said.

**Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.**

"**I went looking for the troll because I — I thought I could deal with it on my own — you know, because I've read all about them."**

**Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?**

Everyone gasped again.

"Don't be too surprised," Hermione said. "There's more than that later."

"**If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."**

**Harry and Ron tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them.**

"**Well — in that case…" said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"**

**Hermione hung her head. Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.**

"That would be so awkward," Bill said. "And creepy. I would probably throw mine away after I checked it for poison."

"**Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."**

**Hermione left.**

**Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron.**

"**Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."**

"ONLY FIVE POINTS EACH!" James yelled. "They took out a full-grown mountain troll! They should deserve at _least_ fifty points total."

**They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.**

"**We should have gotten more than ten points," Ron grumbled.**

"**Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's."**

"**Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."**

"**She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," Harry reminded him.**

"Um, _you _were the one that locked it in?" Ron said to Harry.

"You agreed," Harry replied.

**They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.**

"**Pig snout," they said and entered.**

**The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said "Thanks," and hurried off to get plates.**

**But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.**

"And the love begins," Rose and Lily said.

"That's the end of the chapter," Audrey said. "How about Angelina reads next?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I have made an update to the NextGen ages:**

**Teddy: 17**

**Victoire: 15**

**Dominique, Molly II, Fred, and Roxanne: 12 **

**Louis, Lucy, and James: 10**

**Rose and Albus: 9**

**Hugo and Lily: 7**

**Sorry about the Vic and Teddy mixup. I'm not too sure if I want Vic and Teddy to be dating, but if they will, it would probably be in the story where they either read HBP or DH. **

**Again, sorry about the wait!**


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